six weeks had gone by since Howard's father had sadly passed away, and for the first time he and Bernadette were spending the evening with all their friends. After everything that had happened with the accident, the birth of two babies and Howard's father there had been no opportunity yet to celebrate Amy and Sheldon moving in together and Leonard and Penny's engagement. Now it was Saturday evening and the seven friends were gathered in apartment 4A for a dinner party. It had taken Amy all day to prepare a Chinese food feast for them all, but now it was wonderfully satisfying to see them all gathered around the newly purchased dining table tucking in with great gusto.

"Thank you Amy this food is really amazing" Penny said "Maybe you could share the recipe with me sometime"

Penny herself wasn't much of a chef, Leonard and her still tended to live off spaghetti and macaroni cheese most of the time. At that moment the sound of a baby crying came over the baby monitor. It was Grace who had been sleeping in Leonard's old bedroom while they were eating. A second later and there was another bout of crying as baby Joey woke up too. After Howard's father had died Bernadette and Howard had decided to name him Joseph after him, although they referred to him as Joey.

"I'll go" Amy said and got to her feet and disappeared off to the bedroom only to return a short while later having managed to settle them both back to sleep.

"You know Grace and Joey look so adorable lying side by side in their cribs" she announced grinning as she took her place again at the dinner table and Leonard replenished her wine glass "Wouldn't it be so cool if when they're older they fall in love and got married?…."

"Whoa steady on there Amy" Penny began slightly startled by the suggestion " I don't think I'm comfortable with you marrying off my daughter so easily… like I always say there's a lot of options out there…"

Bernadette put down her fork and scowled at Penny

"Are you saying Joey isn't good enough for Grace?" she accused

"I don't think that's what Penny meant honey" Howard chipped in and patted Bernadette's hand, hoping to avert an argument about Joey and Grace hypothetrically getting married. Just then there was a knock on the door, relieved for an excuse to leave the table Leonard leapt up from his seat and answered the door. To his surprise it was Jake.

"Hi Leonard I'm sorry I can see you guys are eating I won't stay long…." he began

"No problem Jake come in and join us, would you like something to eat? Some wine maybe?" Leonard offered

Jake was grateful for the hospitality but declined the offer.

"No thanks Leonard actually I have a friend waiting downstairs in the car, so I really can't stay long. I just came to say goodbye to you all"

"Goodbye?" Bernadette said in surprise

"Where are you going?" Penny questioned

"I'm moving back to New York" Jake answered " As you already know I had to leave the apartment I was renting a couple of months ago, since then I've been sleeping on a colleagues not so comfortable couch …"

"So why not rent another apartment here in Pasadena?" Bernadette asked while thinking privately to herself that there had to another reason behind Jake's decision to leave California so suddenly.

Jake sighed and for a moment stared down at the floor, it was painful talking about his life before he came to California and it was something he rarely did.

"Listen I haven't been entirely straight with you. Normally I like to keep things on a professional level with clients and I don't talk too much about my own life, but after everything that's happened you guys kinda feel like my friends..."

The group of seven sat in silence and waited patiently for Jake to continue

"I have a daughter, Anna. She's six years old now and she lives with her mother in New York. We were married but we split up before Anna was one year old. I made a lot of mistakes, I was selfish completely focused on my own career, I had this idea I was gonna be a self-made millionaire and everything would have this perfect life… only it wasn't I was a terrible husband and a bad father. I wasn't even there on the day Anna was born" he added sadly "I was at some stupid business conference trying to seal a deal.. I was a total jerk and when my wife eventually had enough and left me, it came as a total shock I hadn't even seen it coming..."

There was a pause

"So after the divorce I gave up the business moved to Califronia and trained as an EMT and then later as a doula. Anyway, I've decided to move back to New York to try and re-establish a relationship with my daughter, Ive already missed so much of her growing up and I don't want to miss out anymore…"

Everyone in the room was touched by Jake's story and by his honesty and courage in sharing it with them.

"So was that part of the reason why you became a doula?" Penny asked remembering the story he had told her about how a woman giving birth in his ambulance had inspired him to train as a doula.

"I guess it was" Jake answered sincerely

Helping couples through the process of childbirth was one of the ways he had tried to make up for the way in which he had failed his own wife and daughter. Jake's cell phone beeped indicating a text message, he glanced at the screen

"It's my friend downstairs he's telling me to get a move on; he's driving me to the airport"

One by one all the men shook hands with Jake and then Amy offered him a hug, followed by Bernadette and finally Penny.

"Take care" she whispered to him "And good luck I hope you manage to work things out with your daughter"

Jake made his way to the door and then stopped as he remembered

"Oh and you give those two beautiful babies a kiss from me" Jake said as he waved goodbye from the door.

"We will" Bernadette and Penny called out in unison

Once Jake had left the mood of the evening seemed to change into a more sombre one, hardly a word was spoken as they finished their desserts and coffees. Thankfully the earlier debate about Grace and Joey getting married in the future didn't resurface.

"Well I guess we should be going" Penny announced as she walked over to the couch to pick up her purse while Leonard went to retrieve Grace from the bedroom. Taking out her cell phone she realised that she had a missed call and a voicemail message. Penny put the phone to her ear and listened back to the message, a moment later as Leonard came back into the room she squeeled with delight.

"Penny what is it?" Amy asked

"That was my agent I got the part" she shrieked again and jumped up and down on the spot "I got the part!"

"The part in the soap?" Leonard said in amazement

The previous week Penny had auditioned for a small part on a soap, that if successful had potential to be made into a more permanent role. However, when Penny had returned from the audition a she had been convinced that she had messed up and had no chance of being offered the part.

"Oh my God Penny that's great" Bernadette exclaimed

"I think that social protocol dictates that this news calls for some kind of celebration" Sheldon began

Since Amy moved in Sheldon had become a little more relaxed in his demeanour and outlook. He was no means a completely changed man, but it clear to see that having Amy around was having a positive effect on him. Amy fetched the bottle of champagne that she had chilling in the fridge and Raj opened it and poured them each a glass.

"I'd like to propose a toast" Sheldon began "First to Penny, who I think we can all say we're very proud of for her achievement…."

Penny exchanged a look of bewilderment with Leonard; it was very unlike Sheldon to acknowledge the acheievements of others, particularly if they weren't related to the field of physics.

"And secondly to us all, although our lives have changed a great deal some things have remained the same…by which I mean the friendship we have in each other and as you all know I'm a big fan of homeostasis…"

At that point everyone laughed clinked glasses and said cheers.

"Hey Penny you didn't say what part it was that you got?" said Raj as he sipped on his champagne

Penny grinned and said that they would never be able to guess

"Tell us!" Amy begged anxious to hear all about it

Penny took a sip of her champagne and looked at her friends over the rim of the glass, and with a cheeky smile said

"A waitress!"

THE END.

I would just like to thank everybody who has taken the time to review my story. It has been great fun to write and has been particularly fascinating reading the different reactions and view points with regard to the Jake character. I hope to write again soon.

Thanks again!

BBT78