Let me welcome you guys to the start of the 'let's try to be a family' story arc! Which… pretty much speaks for itself.
SPECIAL SHOUTOUT TO FANGIRL308 AKA LEANNE WHO IS AWESOME! Actually, thank you to everyone who reviews! I don't say it much, but all of you guys are awesome! I'll do a big shoutout soon, so don't feel like I don't appreciate you guys! All of you rock! /high fives all of you!
Penny often wondered if 2311 North Los Robles' building manager was really just busy with whatever he did in his spare time, or he just really hated everyone who lived in the building in general.
Cause really, how hard was it to get a stupid elevator fixed, or checked, even?! Seriously!
Nevertheless, she had no choice but to use the stairs—like she had been doing since she first moved in. It was a good thing that her new house only had two stories, or else she'd definitely install an elevator, even a manual elevator if it meant that she didn't have to climb four flights of stairs while carrying one of her twins, their overnight duffel bag and help Andy climb it without stumbling because he—for some odd reason—did not like being carried. Since there really was no other way of getting up to 4A; she slung the duffel bag on one shoulder, hoisted Maddie on her hip, held Andy's hand and guided all three of them up the stairs—all at once! Multitasking was something she learned a little after she had the twins, and she was a bit surprised with how good she was getting at it.
She had to finish a bunch of errands in exactly an hour and a half, because if she didn't, Sheldon would eat her alive. Now that they were doing the whole 'co parents' thing, they (she) had agreed to split the twins' time with them. Weekdays were for her, and weekends were for him. She would be the one to drop off the twins at the daycare—the entire Halfway There crew mourned over the fact that the twins would no longer be staying at their makeshift daycare—since she passed by it on the way to the studios; then the guys would be the one to pick them up since they got out of work earlier than her and then she'd pick them up on her way back home. Holidays were to be discussed, and the twins would also stay over whenever she was out of town or really busy. This was the first time that they'd try it, and she really hoped that it would work. She didn't want anything close to Kramer vs Kramer happening.
Today, she was dropping off the twins at the guys' apartment cause it was a Friday and Fridays were included in their definition of weekends. Well, Friday nights were included, but since Gregg and Bailey demanded that they sleep over at her new house; she decided to bring them over early. The twins seemed like they really missed Sheldon, even though they still saw each other everyday. She guessed that it was because they were together for two whole months, and they were no longer used to him not being there. They talked about him nonstop and constantly asked her why he couldn't just live with them since they had such a big house and everyone in the entire planet could fit. Not wanting to hurt them, she told them that Sheldon was just really busy with work and that it was more efficient for him to stay at the apartment than with them.
Which was a total lie, because her house was just three houses down from the Caltech campus. Literally. It was about a ten minute walk from her house to the parking lot where she often dropped him off at. 1466 San Pasqual st. go ahead, google it. Regardless, she could (absolutely) not tell them that she and their father had no relationship—other than platonic—whatsoever between them, and that there was a low chance of all of them living under the same roof. It was mainly because her relationship with him was still… she couldn't even find a right word to describe it. He was always distracted, and looked like he was in his own world. He would be staring into space with a frustrated look on his face, and he would barely notice it if someone talked to him. She didn't notice it until two days ago, but when she did, she couldn't help but wonder if it was because of her.
She tried asking Leonard why his roommate was acting that way, all he said was that Sheldon was being bothered by something and that it had nothing to do with her. Which, she didn't believe because he was acting so distant—but! Since she was no quitter—no siree, she was not—she would still try to reach out to Dr. Genius (as Bailey dubbed him) because she had gone this far, and there was no backing out. If she was a soldier on the battlefield and Sheldon was the enemy that really wasn't and all she needed was to befriend him; the first thing she'd yell was 'for the twins!' Because really, the twins were the one who really needed him, and she didn't want to put him out of their lives now that he had entered it. She would be horrible if she did, and she already saw how happy the twins were when they were with Sheldon.
Nothing was more important to her than her children's happiness.
She shook herself out of her thoughts as she placed Maddie on her feet and noticed that the door was unlocked. She really had to remind them to double check the locks if they didn't want something like the Bozeman move—as they called it—happening again. She'd have problems with the twins' living arrangements if he moved somewhere that wasn't in the LA county or in California in general. The twins would be getting those million miles achievement before they turned ten, if he did. With a slight shake of her head, she pushed the door open and stepped inside. "Guys? We're here."
She closed the door behind her as the twins scurried over to their toy filled playpen before looking up to see Sheldon staring at a whiteboard full of odd symbols with Leonard standing right beside him. She quietly placed the twins' bag at the side of the couch then noticed something very, very wrong with Sheldon; he was wearing only one layer of clothes and it wasn't one of his graphic shirts. Instead, he was wearing a simple gray and white raglan shirt without any kind of shirt over it. His hair was slightly disheveled—a few stands hanging over his forehead and some sticking up at every direction—he had a troubled look on his face, and had she not knew him; she would have thought that he had just gotten home from an awkward one night stand and was getting confronted by his roommate about it.
Not that the great Dr. Sheldon Cooper did one night stands—it was best not to drag her into this—he just seriously looked like he had gotten drunk, fooled around, woke up, left and was now hungover. Again, she had nothing to do with this. "Hello, anybody home? You guys, okay?"
Leonard turned his head to face her, his eyebrows slightly raising in surprise, then nudged his silent roommate. "Sheldon, snap out of it. Penny and the twins are already here."
Sheldon barely paid attention to Leonard and scribbled another set of symbols on a free space on his whiteboard. "This can't be happening, again… this should not be happening, again."
Penny furrowed her eyebrows and took a step closer to him. He looked like he was so distraught that he forgot to check his appearance in the mirror before he left for work; which was troubling, because this was Sheldon—and he was the most hygienic person she knew. He didn't even smell like baby powder or his Luke Skywalker shampoo that smelled a bit like citrus; he kind of smelled stinky in Sheldon standards. He even had this (extremely) light five o' clock shadow going on, and it actually didn't seem too bad. He was always clean cut, and his entire appearance didn't look so bad as it did. She had to admit; he actually look… good. But, Sheldon looking like this was not good. "Sheldon, sweetie, are you okay? Did Leonard do something to break you? Like whistling in front of him?"
The theoretical physicist's sky blue eyes sharply landed on her, and she noticed how his eyes weren't as bright as they used to be. They looked dull, as if he had been staying up all night thinking about something. "Penny, I am neither broken, nor can I be." He huffed and turned back to his whiteboard, breaking the eye contact. "I am simply contemplating about something that has absolutely nothing to do with you. Please, stop bothering me."
With a grumble, Penny sat herself on the middle of the couch. The twins were still busy messing with something at the playpen, and that meant that they would be pretty preoccupied until they got hungry for dinner. "Well, that sucked," she scooted over to his spot. Sheldon would immediately award her a strike if he saw her—but, he didn't really care right now. She wouldn't get in trouble—she already took four of those stupid classes of his during her breaks—with Sheldon all busy. "Any answers for me, Leonard?"
Leonard was at the kitchen, opening the fridge to get two water bottles before closing it and tossing it to her. His throwing skill was getting better, she noted. "Dr. Gablehauser called on Wednesday, informing us that Sheldon won this year's Chancellor's Award for Science." Penny's eyes widened in remembrance of what a Chancellor's Award was; what exactly happened that night, and she swore that Sheldon muttered 'oh god' or something like that. She didn't have volcano… vulcan (she remembered!) hearing like Sheldon did. Now, she understood why Sheldon was so distraught. It was bringing back bad memories. "The committee really didn't want him to win, but due to his current contribution to science, they had to. Their hesitation was mainly due to what happened two years, ago."
She suddenly felt a sharp pang of guilt as she glanced at Sheldon who was drawing lines and connecting the various symbols with each other. He seemed like he was in a different world, far away form where they really were. And she knew that he was troubled by everything that he didn't remember from that night. It was undeniable that the humiliation he received was because of her, and that it was one of the reasons why he held a grudge against her. Had she not suggested that he try drinking his fear away, none of this would have happened. The memories of that night—whichever he did remember—must have traumatized him big time if he was getting this distracted. He hadn't even gotten over his speech from when he was young, and now he had this to add on to his problems. If only she could buy him ice cream (after dinner, of course) to cheer him up like how she did with the twins.
If only she could go back in time to stop him from drinking all that alcohol.
If only it was that easy.
"The terms are still the same, he has to make a speech or else he'll forfeit the award. But, he's banned from drinking any type of alcohol during the ceremony, and they're going to check if he drank before the event." Leonard walked towards the beige armchair, and sighed. "He's been like this ever since Chancellor Morton reminded him that it was make a speech or else, and his mother told him to accept the award. Something about Jesus giving him another blessing, He's been restless ever since. It's kind of sad cause he really deserves this award."
"Can't we do anything to help him?" Penny asked softly, a small frown forming on her face. "Like reforming the C-Men, or something? There's got to be a way to help him."
"I wish we could, but you know Sheldon. And I know that you think that this is all your fault, but it's not. Sheldon just has stage fright and that's it, it has nothing to do with what happened that night."
Yeah right, she grumbled to herself. She might just believe that if Sheldon didn't look like his soul was ripped out of his body. She didn't want to help him just to make up for what happened before—kinda—but, she wanted to help as his friend. She wanted the two of them to have a good, strong friendship for the twins and for the salvation of her soul. The other day, she was checking her email when some sort of glitch happened, and she was transported to the cursed no subject email that Sheldon accidentally sent her. When she was pregnant, she read the email every time she hated herself. Now, she read it to remind herself that she had to make it up to Sheldon. Not meant to be sent or not, what he said in the message was right, and she did cause him a great deal of misery.
If only she could just find a way to get rid of his stage fright that didn't compose of forcing him to buy a suit or to drink. Her character (or the writers) would probably know a way of how to help him, but the only help she could think of was making a banner and putting 'Go Sheldon' on it like how they did during the games back in school. She had always been pretty confident her whole life, so she never had an instance where she got stage fright. Mr. Fleming once told them that having people you care about helped. If you didn't know anyone in the crowd—probably what happened to Sheldon during his valedictorian speech—you'd think that everyone was pressuring you, and that caused stage fright. But, if you had someone close to you that you could focus your attention on, then the chances of stage fright would lessen since you trust that person and that he or she wouldn't judge you like how strangers would.
That kind of worked for her, since the twins often watched their scenes and she always felt confident and comfortable whenever they did. There was just something about them that took all of her inner nervousness away.
Maybe, that would work with Sheldon…
"I know, I just really want to help him." She confessed as Sheldon pushed his sleeves up and wiped the writings on the whiteboard with his arm. "Sheldon, are you alright?"
Sheldon slowly turned to face them, his expression still unreadable and distant. "I have decided to reject the award." His narrowed gaze fell on her, sitting on his spot, and he frowned. "I am most definitely not going to accept the award. Penny, you're in my spot. Move."
Leonard hissed from the couch, sending his roommate a dirty look. "You're being rude, Sheldon."
"Am I?" The theoretical physicist asked in monotone, taking a seat on his spot after the blonde scooted over. "I haven't noticed. What I have noticed, is that there is no possible outcome of me not getting humiliated, again. Thus, I came up with the conclusion of simply not accepting the award. I won it once, I don't need to win it, again. Especially as we all know that I am very close to winning the Nobel. That's the only reason they're honoring me, because they want to be able to say that they saw my life changing contributions before the Nobel committee saw it. Regardless, that no longer matters as I no longer feel the need to accept it." He raised an eyebrow at Penny who was gaping at him and looked around. "Where are the twins?"
"They're at the playpen," Penny said as Sheldon looked over the couch to see the blonde toddlers playing with the three hundred piece puzzle he bought them. She saw him absentmindedly smile at the twins, and she wondered if the twins could be the answer she was looking for. "Hey, Sheldon, are you alright?"
Sheldon snorted as he returned back to his seat and stared down at the black and red smudges on the back of his arm. "I am quite fine. I was merely distracted by a seemingly unsolvable problem." He grabbed a container filled with wet wipes and started cleaning his arm. "Now, that I have found a plausible conclusion, my mind may now cool down. I do not need that award anyway, that award is nothing compared to what I'm about to get."
"Sheldon, an award is an award. You shouldn't reject it just because you can't make a speech," Leonard chastised from his chair. "Look at Penny! She wasn't even here in California when she won the Emmy, but she still accepted it. Speech or not."
"Leonard, you seem to have not paid attention to what happened. Penny won, and the director accepted the award, as well as read the speech she made for her." Sheldon corrected, sending a knowing look to Leonard. "If you're going to oppose me, at least get your facts straight. Besides, Chancellor Morton made it clear that you cannot read my speech for me, and that I cannot do it via VTR. I've already double checked any possible ways of me not having to stand in front of an audience enough to trample me, and there is none. Therefore, I shall not accept the award." He glanced at Penny, who looked as if she had something to tell him. "It's only logical. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must order our dinner. Keep quiet."
Penny frowned as Sheldon took the phone and started dialing Schezuan Palace's number. She was definitely going to intervene with this little problem of his—it was the least she can do.
"So, I was reading A Dance with Dragons the other day—cause I really can't wait for the show—and I decided that Danaerys should really get the throne." Penny said, grabbing a napkin and wiping Maddie's sauce smeared mouth with it. "But, her choices have really been pissing me off, and now I think that she'll never sail back to Westeros like what she's supposed to do."
Leonard chuckled, "I originally wanted Robb as king, but now that he's dead, I'm going for Jon. Dany is too happy as Mhysa to go back and claim the throne, she's already lost all of her soldiers—she'll never get back. Everyone else thinks she's dead, anyway. Plus, her nephew is alive, she has no claim, anymore."
Penny scrunched her face up in distaste, "Leonard! You could have at least warned me about that. I'm not at that part, yet—I only read the Danaerys parts; no one else's."
Andy turned to his twin sister who was eating messily, "Maddie, wat a dah-nah-is? Is dat food?"
Maddie shrugged nonchalantly, grabbing a dumpling and biting down on it. She had no time for her brother's silly questions. "Dunno."
"—shouldn't just read her parts. You have to read the entire book to understand what's happening around her." Leonard continued, waving his chopsticks in the air as he explained. "If you only read her parts, you'll never understand what else is going on. You won't see how her, Tyrion and Arya are all close to each other. You'll have zero knowledge about the white walkers, and why Jon deserves to be the king." Leonard shook his head as Penny mumbled about how hot Jon Snow was and took the second to the last dumpling. "I actually think that Danaerys and Jon will meet cause he needs the firepower, and when he defeats the white walkers, he'll be king. I'd like to believe that he's a Targaryen, as well."
"What? No way! He's not going to be king, Danaerys is—a queen that is." Penny stated before turning to the man sitting beside her. "What do you think Sheldon? Who should sit on the iron throne?"
Penny frowned as the man who always had something to say quietly nodded, pushing a piece of chicken around in his container with his chopstick. Ever since the odd discussion they had about an hour back, he had been nothing but silent. After he ordered the food, he simply told her and Leonard to pick the food up. Then, when she said that she would pay for it, he didn't have a snide comment that was related to her mooching off of them for years. He just shrugged and returned to writing odd things on his whiteboard. Which—if you knew Sheldon as much as she did—was totally causing warning signals to go off at the back of her mind. This was so un-Sheldon like that she was getting really worried about him. The last time he was even close to how he was now was when he got stuck on that problem and worked at the Cheesecake Factory.
"I am going to retire, now," Sheldon announced, standing up before dumping his container into the trash can. He stared at it for another second before turning to see four pairs of eyes staring up at him. "Please, do not bother me. Goodnight." He curtly nodded then walked off to his room.
"Is daddy, okay?" Andy asked with concern. "He no wook okay."
Maddie nodded in agreement, pointing to the container filled with dumpling at the middle of the table. "He no get da wast dumpwing."
"I'm going to talk to him," Penny announced, placing her container on the coffee table before standing up. "This has been bothering me ever since we arrived."
Leonard sighed, taking his and her's containers and dumping them in the trash. "I don't know if there's anything you can say that will cheer him up. Unless you're going to introduce either William Shatner or Leonard Nimoy to him?"
"No, I'm not—but, I'm working on that. I know that this is about what happened two years, ago, and that the only person who can fix this is me." She gave him a stern look and he shook his head, "wish me luck, Leonard." She heard Leonard mutter something inaudible and chose to ignore it before making her way down the hall to Sheldon's room. Luckily, the door was unlocked and she let herself in.
Sheldon was lying down on his bed with his back to her. It oddly reminded her of when she tried talking to him after he found out that Leonard messed his experiment up on purpose just so he could see her again. It was sweet but stupid at the same time, and she bet that her from then would have laughed if she knew that she would have kids with Sheldon. She might even die from laughter if it was then; now, it was reality and she had to help him before this got worse. Though… it was kind of funny how everything happened. She had always thought that it was Leonard who she would settle and have kids with. Apparently, what she really got was just the having kids part because there probably was no way that she'd get—
"Penny," he lifelessly called, and Penny briefly wondered if this was the Sheldon they knew and loved. His superior-than-you tone was nowhere to be found, and was replaced by a soulless automaton. Like Wall-E, except without love. "People can't be in my room. Please leave."
"I've been in here before on more than one occasion, sweetie," she said as she closed the door behind her. This was actually the first time she entered his room since—well, two years. "But, cause I don't want anymore strikes, I'll cut to the chase." She took a seat on the edge of his bed and he simply ignored her. "Am I the reason why you don't want to accept the award? Cause I got you drunk enough to humiliate you, and—I don't want to bring this up, but I have to—got you to have sex with me?" She saw him wince and wondered if she was supposed to be offended by that reaction. That topic was now filed under 'taboo.'
"Not everything is about you, Penny," he snarled, sounding like the Sheldon she knew. Regardless of the slight joy she felt that he was back to hissing about her again, she was kind of annoyed with his comment. But, she'd ignore it for now. "I am still not comfortable talking in front of a big crowd, and with the dastardly alcohol out of the question, I have no idea of how to deal with this problem. I can still perfectly picture the afternoon of my valedictory speech—mainly due to my eidetic memory—and how terrified I was before I fainted. However horrible that is, I am fortunate that I cannot remember majority of the embarrassment I experienced during the awarding one year, six months and three weeks ago. I would lose my mind if I was able to recall every single part of that night."
Of course that didn't seem as much of a slap to the face as it seemed. She may have not wanted things to happen the way it did, but she never thought that it would sound so… bad when someone else talked about it. Time to move on. "You know, people didn't trample you the first time, and the only way they will is if you insult everyone, again. Without alcohol, I don't think you'll make a fool of yourself, sweetie."
"Don't be preposterous, Penny," he snapped, his gaze still fixated on the wall opposite him. Well, he might have his eyes closed, but she had a hunch that he was just staring at the wall. "Without alcohol, I'll pass out and I'll make a fool out of myself once more. I told you; there is no possible scenario that will end without me embarrassing myself. It's inevitable."
"What's with the pessimistic attitude? How are you even going to accept the Nobel if you can't even get pass a simple awarding ceremony?" He turned to face her and she smile. "I mean, think about it; you're going to have to make an acceptance speech when you win, and tons more after that. Then, you'll be invited to speak in front of thousands of people all the time—you can't faint each time! You're going to have to man up and show them why you won. Because you're the rockstar of science, and cause you did what no one else did. Now, that's something to be proud of." Her smile widened as she noticed that he was contemplating what she said. "I'm sure that this time, things won't be as bad as it was last time. Don't make the committee give the award to Kripke—or worse—Leslie Winkle!"
Sheldon stared at her for another moment then turned away from her and sighed.
"Fine. I'll go."
There were two things that Sheldon noticed ever since Penny returned from her trip. The first one was that the apartment felt extremely lonely with the twins living with her again. He had gotten to accustomed to their babbling; their arguments, their yelling and their crying that he no longer knew what the meaning of 'peace and quiet' was. To him, it was confining himself in his room while the twins terrorized the other half of their apartment with whatever was their toy of the day. It was also the time when the twins were already fast asleep, and he could hear himself think without them trying to talk to him about what the annoying letter of the day was. He knew that Leonard felt it, too, and they were both secretly glad that Penny agreed that they be the ones to pick them up from daycare while she was at work. The hour and half wasn't much, but it was enough.
The second thing he noticed was that Penny was exerting a lot of effort in trying to befriend him, again. Not that they weren't friends—he was not lying when he said that they were—he just found her presence a bit too… unusual. Sure, he was used to seeing her everyday with her living across from them, but that was two years ago. A lot had changed and he didn't even bother to check if someone was living in her old apartment since he chased off most of the people who were interested. He was just not used to her being all friendly to him again, and especially with all the meddling she had been doing. It had only been less than a day since she dropped the twins off at their apartment, yet she had spent practically the entire time annoying with texts that told him to get the award. Had he not needed her number in case of emergencies, he would have already blocked her number.
In all honesty, he was unsure of what her little pep talk actually did to change his mind. He was still fifty-fifty on whether or not he should accept the award, and the constant thinking was getting more and more frustrating with each minute that passed. A part of him didn't want to expose himself to any more embarrassment that would never be taken off Youtube and the humiliation that he would get from everyone in the audience. He had enough of that in one lifetime. While another part of him agreed with Penny that he was being a coward, and it would be pathetic if a future Nobel laureate couldn't even give a lousy speech. Penny was right; when he won the Nobel, he was going to have to deliver a lot of speeches in front of four times the amount of people that could trample him. Every speech he would make would go down in history, and would be used in various future inspirational speeches.
"—dude, you'd be crazy not to accept the award!" Raj said, moving his yellow piece into the library of the Cluedo board game. He looked at his cards with a scowl then hummed. "Okay, Mustard, in the library with the noose." Howard showed Raj a card and he grumbled, slumping back against the couch. "But, seriously dude, this might be the silver lining for a Nobel! You've waited ten years for this, you shouldn't reject it."
Howard scribbled something down on his notepad then rolled the dice before moving his piece into the kitchen. "Peacock, in the kitchen with the gun." Leonard showed him a card, and the engineer sighed. "Raj is right, stage fright is such a sissy award to not accept it. This time, I actually care about your piddly ass little problem and I highly suggest that you accept the award." He crossed something off on his notepad and grinned at Sheldon. "Besides, if you screw it up again, the twins might get siblings!"
Sheldon threw him a dirty look as he stared down his cards, "please, as if that—"
"We gonna get a bwo-dah?" Andy exclaimed as he tore hid attention away from Yo Gabba Gabba. "No sistah, pwease! No want 'nadah Maddie!"
Maddie huffed from her couch, turning her head to look at their father. "No want a bwo-dah wike Andy, too! He no good. Maddie want bettah one."
"Wat? Andy good, Maddie da one not good!" Andy said while pointing to himself then to his twin. "Dat why Andy no want a sistah."
"No," Maddie dragged out, glaring at her brother, "Andy no good. Maddie da bestest, you no good."
"Okay, okay, calm down," Raj softly ordered, turning away from the board game and leaning down towards the bickering siblings. It wasn't a normal day unless the twins didn't argue over something. "You're not going to get siblings, okay?" The two toddlers both grumbled, and Raj wondered if it was because they were disappointed that they weren't going to get another brother or sister, or because no one won in their argument. "Your Uncle Howard was just joking about that."
Howard tittered, "but, if you want one, just give your parents some alcohol then—ow! Raj, I was kidding!"
Maddie huffed, turning back to the tv. "No want a bwo-dah and sistah, anyway."
"It good dat we not get 'nadah Maddie. One is good." Andy sighed in relief before turning back to his show and concentrating on it, again.
Sheldon—who chose to not pay attention to the whole 'getting another sibling' discussion—landed on a ten and moved his piece into the living room. "Plum, in the living room, with the trophy." Raj showed him the card for the trophy and he hissed, crossing off trophy on his list of clues. "This game is more intense than I originally thought. Leonard your turn."
Leonard grabbed the dice, shaking inside his hands then dropped them on the board. He always had an odd way of rolling the dice. "Hey, Sheldon, I was wondering… would it be alright if Penny and the twins could go with us? The twins would love to see you getting the award." He moved his piece to the living room and checked his list. "Scarlet, in the living room with the trophy." Raj showed him the card for Scarlet and he hissed. "I thought I finally got it. Drat."
"Hmm… my mother informed me earlier that they wouldn't be able to go, again. I heard the sound of something crashing down on the floor, breaking into at least a hundred pieces and decided not to press on further." Sheldon informed as Raj started his turn. When he called his mother to tell her that he was going to refuse the award again, she didn't tell him to listen to 'Jesus Take the Wheel' like she did last time and simply told him that she would just send another letter. Then, he asked why they wouldn't be able to go, and he heard something crashing in the background and Missy hissing a stream of expletives that he was uncomfortable of repeating. In fear of pressing on and feeling his twin sister's wrath, he politely ended the call. Looking back at it now, the sound he heard was like Legos crashing on the floor. "I guess it would be alright for the twins to be of attendance as a support group of some sort. Are children allowed?"
Raj nodded after he (again) declared that it was Mustard, in the library with the noose and was disproved by Howard, again. "Yeah, I don't think there's anything saying that kids can't attend. Besides, they're your children—though, they don't know that—and are official members of your C-Men!" Both Leonard and Howard groaned while Sheldon happily grinned at the thought that he had his own X-Men. "We won't let thirty-six adults or seventy children trample you! Unless, of course, you make a fool out of yourself in front of the committee, again, then that's where we draw the line."
They all looked up when the front door opened and Penny entered with a wide grin on her face and a hand hiding something behind her back. "Hi guys! Whatcha doing?" She happily asked as she closed the door and stood in front of it to hide whatever was behind her.
"We're playing Cluedo," Leonard informed her as Howard contemplated on where to move his piece. "And don't you have to go to the Hindsight taping on weekends?"
Penny nodded, glancing over to the twins who had their full attention on the dancing… things on the screen. "Uh, I do, but I finished all of my scenes early and got to go home early. So, I decided to hang out with you guys. Anyway! I stopped by here cause I have something for Sheldon."
"Is it another kid?" Howard joked as he moved his piece into the living room. "I'd be getting a lot of money from these two losers if it was."
"I'm going to ignore that," the blonde cringed and moved closer to the coffee table. "Sheldon, I got you this!" She pulled her hand out from behind and held a plastic covered suit. "Pretty nice, huh? And it isn't just one color, like how you like it!"
Sheldon stared at the tan suit jacket, black shirt inside and the dark slacks; what was with Penny and buying him formal wear? He was perfectly fine with the ones he had—his checkered suit—and could not understand why Penny always felt the need to get him a new one. He still had the black one he wore before (though, the pants were gone) and the one she ordered Raj to make him wear for that party for her. He'd never understand Penny and the need to keep buying unnecessary clothes. He was supposed to reject the suit that (knowing Penny) was a total waste of money, but the way she was beaming at him made him backpedal his decision. He was too troubled to care. "I—I appreciate the thought, Penny, but the suit you made me buy did not work the first time. What makes you think that it would work, now?"
The blonde's smile was unfaltering and he knew that there was no way that he could avoid this. "You just have to trust me on this, Sheldon. I have a feeling that that suit will definitely give your confidence a boost." She shook the plastic covered suit with glee before draping it over his desk chair. "Not only are you gonna rock that stage with your awesome speech, but you're gonna look great as well!" She spun the chair around before taking a seat on it.
Leonard showed Howard a card then turned to Penny, "by the way, do you want to go with us to the awarding ceremony? Sheldon would love to have you and the twins there."
Penny blinked before turning to Sheldon with wide green eyes, "really? I get to go, too?"
"I see no need why you shouldn't," Sheldon nonchalantly stated, checking his cards one last time before grabbing the envelope filled with answers. "It was Plum, in the living room, using the dumbbell." He opened the envelope to see what was inside and pulled the three cards out, "I win." He placed the cards on the table as the three men all grumbled on how he beat them to it, and glanced at Penny. "As I was saying; I see no reason why you can't be invited—unless you have prior engagements, of course—I would like the twins to be present and it would be wrong not to invite you, too."
Howard fixed the board for a second round, "what Sheldon here is saying is that he'd like you to go. Are you gonna go?"
Penny nodded eagerly, smiling at each of them. "Of course! I'm still part of the C-Men, so, I'm definitely gonna go, too!"
The three men all cheered while Sheldon simply rolled his eyes. It's not like her presence would be of any help with his stage fright, and he had a feeling that her being there might even make it worse. Nevertheless, he had already said that she could go, and there was no going back on it.
"So, I was wondering…" all three of the men at the table groaned as Raj started another one of his odd discussions, "why was the Chancellor's Awards moved to October when it's normally held in end March or at the start of April? I don't see any other awarding ceremonies jumping dates whenever they want. They're always held on the same month that they're always held. Isn't it a bit fishy?"
Howard scoffed, "I don't know, someone must have moved it to make it fit into their schedule or something. Are you really supposed to think about those kinds of things, right now?"
"Hey, it's something to think about!" Raj defended, taking another sip of alcohol. "You should be aware of everything that's happening around you, and this is one of those. Still, aren't you curious on why they moved it? Someone must have wanted to unrealistically change the date just so that it would work. How selfish."
The engineer shook his head while Sheldon sighed for the fifteenth time since they arrived at the venue. "What if I get frozen on stage and faint? I'll become an even bigger fool than I was the first time! Is it truly too late to go home and just play Wii Resort? That is more relaxing than this nerve wracking event we are currently at." He paused and blanched, his gaze turning to the bottle of alcohol sitting in front of Raj. "I think I'm going to be sick."
"Remember, you're banned from drinking anything with alcohol," Leonard warned, slowly moving the bottle away from Sheldon's vision. "Alcohol didn't help you the first time, and I strongly doubt that it would, this time. Just drink your Mountain Dew."
Sheldon frowned at his roommate, clucking his tongue in annoyance. "I am not planning on drinking, Leonard. I am merely expressing my woes, and am expecting that my C-Men will do something to help me."
"I thought that we were going to think of a new name for that?" Raj asked, cringing at the sound of their 'team' name.
"Weww, weww, weww," a familiar voice started, causing all of them to turn around to see Kripke smugly smirking at them. "If it isn't the wosah bwigade."
"Kripke," Sheldon snarled as the aforementioned man stalked closer to their table. "Funny to see you here, since you're never even considered to win."
"Hiwawious, Coopah, you don't heaw it, but I'm waughing." Kripke sneered, grabbing the bowl of nuts on their table. "Awthough, thewe's something even funniew than me not getting considewed fow the Chancewwow's Awawd." He pulled his phone out from his pocket and played a video, "and it's you embawassing youwsewf two yeaws ago!"
"Alright people, let's get down to the math; it is only three dimensional thinking that limits our imagination. Can I take my pants off over my head? Of course not, my body's in the way. But, if we had access to higher dimensions; we can move our pants, around our bodies through the fourth dimension and our days of dropping trousers would be over! Now, for the astronomers in the audience, get ready to see the dark side of the moon—here's Uranus!"
Kripke started laughing wildly while the others tried to suppress their laughter. "Wook at you making a foow of youwsewf, Coopah! I have this saved in my phone, and I gotta say, everwytime I'm upset, I just watch this and I wemembah how much of a wosah you awe! Now, I am so weady fow you to make a foow of youwsewf, again!"
Raj stood and glared at the physicist, "Sheldon's not allowed to drink alcohol—he's not going to be an embarrassment! So, why don't you record someone else, cause Sheldon's not going to make a fool of himself like we all think he will!"
Howard grabbed Raj's sleeve and pulled him down, "Raj, you're really not helping!"
"What? I'm just defending our leader's honor! We gotta stand up for him; he's our Professor X, remember?"
"I know that, but you don't have to make a fool of yourself in the process!"
"Okay, both of you, cut it out," Sheldon hissed, standing from his seat and making his way to where Raj and Kripke were standing. "Save your ridicule for when your experiments fail, Kripke, because the only one who will be embarrassed is you; not me." Kripke opened his mouth to say another smug laced comment but he was cut off by a commotion at the entrance.
"Isn't that Penny from Halfway There?"
"It is! What's she doing here?"
"I can't believe that she's actually here; her upcoming movie The Truth About Life was said to be scientifically accurate, and all of the critics are saying that it's going to be one of the best movies of the year!"
"I have to ask her to take a picture with me, but I'm too shy to ask her!"
"Oh, and her kids are here, too! Is she related to one of the awardees?"
"Those kids are cuter in person than on tv! I love her show!"
Sheldon frowned as people crowded around the entrance and glared at Leonard. "I told you that there was a huge possibility of this happening. Now, everyone will be too awe stricken by her to listen to me getting awarded."
"You didn't even want to accept the award in the first place," Leonard pointed out as Penny tried to breakaway from the crowd and started making her way to their table. "Wouldn't everyone being too distracted to listen to you actually help your stage fright problem?"
"That is true, but still," Sheldon hissed, his frown deepening as the people fawned over Penny. "This is supposedly a night to honor everyone who won—not just me—and I feel for those students who will be overshadowed by her."
Howard glanced over his shoulder and grinned, "although, they might get overshadowed by the fact that the four of you are wearing matching outfits."
Sheldon narrowed his eyes as he saw Andy's outfit which composed of a tan suit, a black dress shirt and crystal blue tie that was the exact same ones (only toddler sized) that he was wearing. Then, he glanced at Penny and Maddie who were wearing matching black dressed that had white and—he tried not to roll his eyes at this—the same crystal blue stripes across the fabric. This was an awarding ceremony not a fashion show—what was even with Penny and clothes?! Maybe, it really was her superpower; telling people what to wear. Yes… it was her superpower. While the world crumbled around her, she would be busy thinking of what each panicking citizen should wear when they die a horrible death because she didn't do anything to help them but fix their outfit.
"Aha! I told you you'd look great in that!" Penny commented as she stooped in front of them, Maddie on her hip and Andy grinning up at him. "You look better than you did the last time!"
Maddie reached her arms out to him and he instinctively took her from her mother's arms. "Fashanabah!" She chirped in agreement as she tapped his tie, and grinned up at him.
Penny lifted Andy up to her hip, and beamed at Sheldon. "Look at you and Maddie—you two look so cute! I want to take a picture but I didn't bring my phone. Ah! I just wanna frame you up!"
Sheldon scowled at Penny's giddiness. There was nothing 'cute' about this, and he would ignore her had he not been carrying Maddie, and if everyone wasn't staring at them like they were the a pot of gold. "Penny, was matching outfits really necessary? More people are crowding us than the amount needed to trample me. The attention is unnerving, and the idea of the four of us wearing similar clothes is bothering me to a great extent."
"Aww, you're such a party pooper! You look fine, and the people won't trample you, okay? Besides, if only me and Maddie matched, Andy would feel left out. So, I got the two of you to match!" He would never really understand Penny and her need to be fashionable. "Is that why you got me this suit? So that Andy and I could match?"
The blonde nodded and he resisted the urge to sigh. "Yup! I was out shopping with Gregg and I saw yours and Andy's outfit in one of those suit stores and I just had to buy it. I know, you take Andy—I'll take Maddie—and let's take a picture!" She turned to Raj who quickly pulled his phone out and stood. She handed Andy to Raj, then took Maddie from Sheldon who took Andy then sidled up next to Sheldon. "Raj, make sure that we look great!"
"Do we really need to take a picture?" Sheldon whined, glancing down at Penny who was standing a bit too close to him. The only people he allowed in his personal space was his mother, his Meemaw, (not that he could do anything about it) Missy and the twins. Penny was still not allowed anywhere near his person, even though he would allow her in his tree fort if he ever had one. He also decided to that she would let her inside his bomb shelter-slash-anti zombie underground hideout as he knew that the twins wouldn't be happy if she would not survive the invasion. But, that didn't mean that she could just lean next to him as if he was a wall! He had no problems with taking a picture, but that did not mean that he was okay with feeling her breathing next to him! "And must you really stand so close to me?"
Penny nudged his side with her elbow and laughed as he hissed at her. "Of course! The four of us look great, so we have to take a picture!" She glanced up at him and matched his scowl with a bright smile, "you really gotta lighten up, sweetie! You're gonna do great tonight—now, smile for the camera or else I'm going to poke you until you do."
Sheldon sighed in defeat; there was no use of going against the blonde as he knew that she wasn't going to stop annoying him until he agreed. When he was done getting nervous about his speech, he was definitely going to give Penny a strike or two for making him go along with this. He was taken out of his thoughts when he felt two tiny fingers pushing the corners of his mouth upwards and found Andy grinning up at him with his index fingers next to his mouth. "What are you doing?"
"Make daddy say cheese!" He happily said, retracting his hands from his face. "Say cheese and take picha!"
"Dude, hurry up and smile!" Raj called, lowering his phone slightly, "my arms are getting tired from waiting for you to get in the picture!"
"Fine, but this will be the last time I'm ever doing this." He muttered as he felt Penny's elbow poking his side, again. The longer he stalled the longer he'd have to suffer.
"One, two, three—cheese!" Raj tapped a button as the four grinned—a small smile for Sheldon—and took another one right after that. "You guys looked great! Look!"
Leonard felt his smile faltering when he felt someone tapping on his shoulder, "what is it, Kripke?"
Kripke blinked, glancing at the four then back at the experimental physicist. "I didn't want to ask this, but does Coopah and Woxanne have some sowt of wewationship going ow something? They wook wike a fweaking famiwy!"
Howard chuckled from his seat and poured more wine in his glass. "You know, Kripke, none of us really know."
The general rule of thumb stated that either thirty-six adults or seventy children would be enough to trample him. Glancing around, he wondered if eighty-three adults—minus his friends and Penny—would be enough to kill him.
It was safe to say that this was the most nerve racking experience he had ever had to go through. The incident from two years ago was just humiliating, and he thanked his mother's god that he barely remembered what happened that night. The anxiety he was feeling was nothing compared to how he felt when he had to make his valedictory speech. That was child's play—this was just one big nightmare that he couldn't wake up from. Back then, he was just a plain threat to them with him being fourteen and them being in their twenties. Most of them were not happy that a child was better than them, but he knew that they respected him in their own way. Even though he didn't have a lot of acquaintances at the university—much less friends—a lot of the students in his classes congratulated him when he became summa cum laude.
This time was so different; instead of thinly veiled contempt, the people currently surrounding him barely tried to hide it. He could hear them whispering at how embarrassing he was the last time and that he should have been banned from ever getting an award. He also heard some of them asking why he was being honored again when most thought that he was crazy. He wasn't new to the skepticism regarding his intelligence—he got that all the time when he was in university. His peers often refused to believe that he was smarter than them with him being only eleven. However, that was a different story, and it bothered him how they still refused to see his contributions to the world of science. Some of the dignitaries were (loudly) whispering on how he didn't even deserve the award and it made his confidence wither with each insult.
"I have a bad feeling about this," he muttered, sighing softly as his friends turned to face him. "It is something akin to foreboding—is it too late to leave?"
Raj raised his eyebrows and wiped the alcohol from his mouth. "What? You can't just leave. You're going to go up on that stage, make the best speech ever and you're going to be great!"
Howard nodded, scrutinizing a thin piece of bread. "Yeah… and we promise to clap for you."
"You shouldn't get nervous, buddy. You're close to solving one of the biggest mysteries in the world, this is going to be a piece of cake." Leonard added, reassuringly from across him. "Think about it; Nobel laureate Dr. Sheldon Cooper has stage fright is a horrible headline. It should be; Dr. Sheldon Cooper—future Nobel laureate—accepts first of many awards he's going to get for his great contributions to science."
Andy looked up from his plate of mashed potatoes, "Maddie, wat a wow-iyat?"
Maddie turned to their father and tugged on his sleeve. "Daddy, wat a wow-iyat?"
"It's laureate," he corrected, turning his attention to the two toddlers sitting on booster seats beside him. "It is a person who is honored with an award for outstanding creative or—in my case—intellectual achievement. If my research produces the result I think it will produce, I will be recognized and will be awarded the Nobel Prize for physics. Thus making me a Nobel laureate."
"Oh," she chirped, "daddy win, yet?"
He shook his head and patted her head when she frowned. "Not yet, but I will soon. I'm about to publish my paper, only after that can we know if I will win. I'd be very happy if I did, though."
Andy hummed from beside Maddie and grinned up at him. "Andy know dat you gonna win, daddy. Mommy say dat you da smahtest man in the uni-vas!"
"Andy wight, daddy," Maddie nodded, giving him a thumbs up that he was sure was from Raj. "You gonna win and get da low-iyat! Maddie knows so."
Sheldon softly smiled at the two toddlers' words and felt guilty at the same time. The twins had now become his favorite people in the world—tied with his Meemaw—and it made him feel bad for not telling anyone about them, yet. The only people who knew about them were the guys and Amy, and no one else. He didn't even have the courage to tell his family in fear of getting a bible smacking from his mother. He had been wanting to tell them since the day that he found out, but he was always unable to do so once he heard his mother's voice on the phone. He was a coward for it, and he knew that he had to tell them soon. He didn't want to be like Penny with the not telling anyone bit. The more he hesitated, the more his mother would get angry at him for not telling her. He also had a feeling that even his Meemaw would be disappointed in him.
Leonard often told him that he would only make it worse by stalling, but Penny simply told him to tell his family when he was ready. She said that this was something big, and that he couldn't tell them in the same way that he would if he bought a new shirt. Surprisingly, he found sense in what Penny said and it only got him even more bothered. How was he even supposed to tell his mother that he had children and that he didn't know of their existence until recently? She would his him with a sizzling frying pan if he wouldn't be able to answer her properly, and he really did not want that to happen. He still had to win the Nobel before he would allow anything bad to happen to him—i.e. his mother drowning him in holy water or dropping a ton of bibles on his head, enough to kill him. It wasn't unlikely with the way their mother overreacted.
But, he'd deal with that later as he had other things to stress about.
"Sorry I disappeared," Penny said as she appeared from somewhere he didn't see. He didn't even noticed that she was gone. "There were a couple of paparazzi outside who were tipped off by someone here trying to pry information on why I was here. I had to do damage control and told them that I'm here to support my friend, like what I really am doing." She returned to her seat beside Andy and raised an eyebrow. "Is everything alright? You look paler than usual."
"I do believe that it's impossible for him to become paler, but yes, he is a bit pale."
Sheldon blinked at the familiar voice and turned around to find Amy standing behind his chair. "Amy, I thought that you would be unable to attend due to the symposium in Long Beach that you had to attend?"
The brunette nodded slightly, glancing around as she spoke in monotone. "I was supposed to attend, but there was a minor problem with the other speakers' schedule so, I—" she paused, her eyebrows furrowed as she turned to the blonde two chairs down from him. "I—is that… Penny?" She quickly rounded the table and took a seat on the empty chair beside Penny, "oh my—you're here! In the flesh! In front of me! With your golden hair, green eyes and sun kissed skin—pinch me, am I dreaming?!"
Penny's eyes widened as Amy extended an arm towards her and started pinching to see if she was asleep. "No, you're not dreaming and it's nice to finally meet you, A—"
Amy leaned forward, pulling the blonde into a tight hug as she suppressed a high pitched squeal of joy. "My bestie! My bestie and I have finally met—this is a dream come true! Somebody take a picture of me and my bestie!" Her gaze landed on Raj who quickly pulled out his phone and took a picture. "Yes! I have a picture with my bestie—you better send me that. Wait, bestie, do you have a Facebook account?" Penny nodded. "Wonderful! I'll just add you and we can be besties on social networking sites!"
"And now, to welcome our next awardee; Dr. Leonard Hofstadter!"
"Good evening ladies and gentlemen, I'm Dr. Leonard Hofstadter and it is my great honor to introduce the winner of this year's Chancellor's Award for Science and my best friend; Dr. Sheldon Cooper." The people applauded and Sheldon felt himself sink more and more into his chair. "But before I do, I'd like to share with you a letter from Sheldon's grandmother who couldn't be here tonight. Dear Moonpie, words cannot describe how proud I am of you…"
"Oh sweet suffern' jesus," Sheldon hissed as Leonard read his Meemaw's letter. "I'm next—Raj, feel my hand, does it feel clammy? I think I'm going to faint, I can already feel the bile rising up in my throat. This is bad, really bad. Can't we just leave?"
Sheldon saw Penny opening her mouth to say something but was cut off by Amy talking. "Sheldon, I can tell by the rate of your fidgeting that you are—indeed—very nervous. I believe that you will do fine, and I suggest that you consider this as your first step in taking over the world. It always starts with a motivational speech." The brunette gave him a small grin, and he felt himself smiling, as well. Leave it to Amy to cheer him up; the neurobiologist always knew the right things to say—that was why he had originally planned on having benign intellectually superior overlord progeny with her. It was like talking to himself, except with longer hair. "Thank you, Amy, that was very helpful."
Amy curtly nodded, "of course, you are my friend, and I am here to support you." She turned to the blonde beside her who looked like she was deep in thought. "If you ever need my support, just ring me up and I'll be there in no time, bestie."
Penny blinked at her before chuckling in response. "Uh, yeah, sure."
"—love and support, congratulations, Meemaw." Leonard cleared his throat as he returned the letter back into the envelope. "Well, that was touching… I wish I could get a letter as sweet as that. But, I digress." He placed the envelope inside his coat and smiled, "and now, ladies and gentlemen, our guest of honor; Dr. Sheldon Cooper."
Sheldon swallowed the lump in his throat as he rose, the sound of his heart beating drowning out the applause. He slowly made his way up the stage—Leonard gently smacking his back as he passed him—and stared out into the crowd. They were all staring at him, and that was when he felt his entire body go numb.
"Oh my god, he froze," Leonard pointed out as he saw Sheldon open and close his mouth like how a fish would. "Should I go up there? He might faint!"
Raj frowned as he listened in to the audience's comments, "this is bad. Maybe, we should have given him at least one drink!"
"Are you crazy?" Howard retorted, glancing around to see what people's reactions were to the motionless physicist. "They checked his breath for any sign of alcohol at the door. That idea would have gotten him to forfeit the award. Besides, it's too late for that now."
Amy shook her head as she looked up at her friend, "shouldn't we do something about this? Knowing Sheldon, it won't take long until he faints, or makes a fool out of himself."
Penny sighed in regret at the sight of Sheldon looking like a deer caught in headlights; she shouldn't have forced him to accept the award when she knew that it was hard for him to fight the stage fright. She just wanted to help him out—she didn't expect him to get petrified when he seemed to be okay minutes ago. Which was a total lie, because she could see how nervous he was when he realized that he was about to go up on stage. She regretted not doing anything other than giving him poor advice and buying him clothes; they really weren't helping. This was all her fault, and she didn't know anything that could hel—
"Mommy," Maddie called, gently tapping her arm and tearing her out of her thoughts. "Yes, what is it, sweetie?"
The toddler tilted her head to the side in thought before pointing to the empty seat beside her. "Andy missing."
THUMP!
Penny immediately glanced up at the stage as Andy started crying due to him tripping on the last step of the stairs. She could hear the whispered conversations and the debates throughout the room as they all stopped to question who the kid was. Some were wondering why 'the super famous actress' son was on stage and what exactly Sheldon's relationship with the toddler was. She already had a feeling that however this scene would play out, she knew that Sheldon's privacy would be ruined forever. She could already imaging the paparazzi stalking the mysterious man who was the twins' father that she never spoke about. God, she hoped that none of the people here would spill about this.
She was about to rush to the stage when Sheldon did something unexpected; he seemed to have broken out of his trance before stepping away from the podium and walking over to where Andy was sitting. He didn't even noticed that the microphone was still in his hand as he crouched down and spoke to him. "Are you hurt?"
Andy sniffed, pointing to his knee. "Andy fall down—it ouchie!"
Sheldon reached his hand out to pat his son's head before lifting him up as an attempt to calm him down. Andy wiped his tears on Sheldon's jacket—which cause several people who knew Sheldon to gasp—and looked around the room with wide eyes. "What we doing?"
"I am currently about to give an acceptance speech for winning this year's Chancellor's Award for science." He calmly told him, looking as if he hadn't just frozen in front of all of them due to stage fright. He looked confident and Penny wondered what exactly got rid of this problem. It was like he wasn't even nervous mere seconds, ago.
"Daddy win?" Andy asked with interest, which caused the whole room to—dramatically gasp—at what the toddler revealed. Penny even heard a few murmurs on how they were sure that Sheldon was either gay or crazy, and she felt proud that they were wrong about Sheldon. They all looked absolutely perplexed to know that Sheldon had a son that she was resisted the urge to laugh at their face. She was so proud that she didn't even notice that people were whispering on how Sheldon was 'dating' a famous celebrity; aka, her. "Andy happy dat daddy win!" Andy turned to look at the audience, searching until he found his twin waving at him. "Maddie, daddy win da awahd!"
"Howy fwakk!" She heard Kripke—who moved from the other table to theirs—exclaim to Leonard who was grinning proudly at his best friend. "Coopah is the spwouts' fathew? How did that happen?"
"Easy," Howard started, "coitus." Raj, Leonard and Howard all laughed at Kripke's dumbfounded expression while Amy simply chuckled.
Penny saw Sheldon smirk—probably finally noticing how everyone's jaws literally dropped to the floor—as he walked back to the podium, still carrying Andy with one arm and she felt an odd sense of happiness at the sight of them. She knew that Sheldon was still afraid to inform his family that he had kids, and what she had just witnessed told her that he no longer had that problem. Plus, he looked like he had gotten rid of his stage fright. It was hitting two birds with one stone, and she couldn't help but smile at the fact that she (kinda) actually helped him out for once.
"Yes, like what my son said," Sheldon started, confidence dripping off from his tone and how he stood, "I am this year's recipient of the Chancellor's award and unlike before; I'd like to thank my friends, Penny, my children Andy and Maddie, as well as the committee for choosing me—again—and for recognizing my contributions in the field of science. Science is moving forward; faster than the speed of light and more so than ever. Thank you." He gave them a small smile as the people applauded and he carried Andy back to their table; the toddler still babbling on how happy he was that his daddy won.
Penny met him in front of the table with wide, amazed green eyes as she comprehended what Sheldon had said in front of everyone. He actually thanked her and the twins in his speech—because how could not be shocking and touching at the same time?! And not only did he lose his stage fright, but he also lost his uncertainty on claiming that the twins were his. She just couldn't help herself from grinning at him as he and Andy reached their table.
"You did amazing! We're all so proud of you, sweetie, and thank you for including me in your speech." She pulled him in for a hug and winked at him once she stepped back to take Andy from his hold. "You were great up there, you know."
Sheldon gave her a tight smile as she placed Andy back on his chair, Maddie lightly scolding him for not telling her what he was going to do. "Thank you; it was only right to mention you as well, had Andy not been there, I might have been stuck up there. I believe that credit should be given where credit is due, and you deserve it." There was a moment of silence between them as the show continued on, then she noticed that he suddenly had a serious expression on his face.
"Hey, are you okay?" she asked before he said something that she didn't expect to hear anytime soon.
"Penny, I believe it is time that I tell my family about the twins."