36
Penny and Sheldon set up a schedule of Skype and phone calls and resolved that they would communicate with each other in some way each and every day, whether it be by voice, text, email, Instagram, Twitter or any other form yet to be invented. In late August Penny arrived to help Carli move into her dorm and stayed with Sheldon. She enjoyed reuniting in person with everyone she had been communicating with by phone. Bernadette and Howard's baby girl had just been born and Penny enjoyed her time with the new baby. After she left Sheldon was a bit depressed but not inconsolable. They resumed their communication schedule and everything went well until the beginning of November. Suddenly Penny was not communicating as often as before. Communications went from every day to every other day and the second week of November just stopped. Sheldon called Penny but only got her voicemail. He called Wackadoodles and spoke to Janie but every time he called Penny was out. He started making plans to fly east.
Penny got out of the cab in front of 2311 North Los Robles. "It was definitely a good idea to not let them know I was coming. That way I can still run. Not for much longer though," she thought. "It still feels really weird. Yeah, definitely the elevator and not the stairs and just hope nobody else gets on."
She pressed "5" and closed her eyes until the door opened on the fifth floor. She knocked on the door to apartment 5A. The door opened.
"Yes."
"Hello, Sheldon."
"Penny, I'm a bit surprised."
"Can I come in?"
"Of course."
Penny walked over to the couch and sat down.
"Sheldon, please come sit next to me."
"Why are you here, Penny?"
"Please. Sit."
"Alright."
"First, I'm sorry."
"For…?"
"Not calling for the last week. Not returning your calls."
"Or my emails. Or texts."
"I'm sorry. I had a lot of things to figure out and it took a little longer than I thought it would."
"I don't understand."
"The last time we said goodbye I was pretty sure that was it. That whatever it was we had was eventually going to end because you were here and I was there."
"And?"
"I began to realize that I didn't want to live without you any more. But I still wasn't sure what to do. Or what I could do. Then a couple of things happened."
"What happened?"
"I got an offer on the restaurant and the building."
"I wasn't aware that you were selling."
"I wasn't. It came out of nowhere. It's a really good offer. It took some time to work things out and come up with a contract of sale. I was hoping you could take a look at it."
"Of course I will."
"Please look at it now."
Sheldon wasn't comfortable putting their conversation on hold but he acceded to Penny's wish. As he went through the contract he made notes in the margins.
"Penny, this is a very lucrative offer. Not only have they offered you an above market price for the property, they've included a licensing agreement for Wackadoodles."
"They want to open a restaurant out here and follow the model I created for Wackadoodles. The want me to find the property and consult on running it."
"That's wonderful. You'll be moving here then?"
"If that's okay with you."
"You know that it is."
"And you're okay with us living together again?"
"Of course."
"Sheldon, I'd really like you to think about moving to a bigger place. A house with a yard and room for all of us."
"All of us?"
"Sheldon, we can find a house that works for all of us, me and you and Nora and Alex and Penelope and Carli, and will be a good place for kids to grow up."
"Penelope is quite happy here. And there is always room for Carli when she visits."
"Sheldon, I really want us to have a new start and, I'm sorry, but this place won't be big enough."
"Big enough for what?"
"Our family. I'm pregnant, Sheldon. We're going to have twins."
Sheldon just looked at Penny. For a long time. And then he began to cry.
Epilogue
Sheldon called a family meeting for that night. He called Carli and insisted she come to Pasadena. Nora said she would pick her up. When Carli arrived everyone was surprised to see that her hair was now a natural blondish brown color and she looked almost exactly like Penny had when Sheldon first met her.
Penny, Sheldon, Nora, Alex, Carli and Penelope sat around the living room of Nora and Alex's apartment. Penelope sat quietly in Carli's lap.
"I assume you are all wondering why I've called this meeting of our wackadoodle family, as Penny calls it. First, we have some announcements to make. Penny?"
"I'm selling my building and restaurant and moving back out here. I got a really, really good offer and Sheldon has advised me to accept it."
"Mom, what about Sandra and Iris?"
"Already found them another place. They're fine and they say hi. And they both want to come visit us."
"It's gonna be a little tight."
"That's one of the other matters we need to discuss. Penny will be receiving a significant amount of money for her property and I have advised her that she should invest it in real estate."
Nora and Alex looked alarmed.
"You guys are going to move out?"
"Yes. However we have a proposal. We would like to propose that we, as a group, seek a home that can support all of us living together, something with two master bedroom suites and a number of additional bedrooms for others."
"What others?" asked Carli.
"Well, Penelope and you, of course. And a guest room. And…"
Penny blushed. "Yeah, and we'll need a room for the babies."
"Babies?"
"Sheldon and me, well, I'm pregnant. We're going to have twins."
After everyone finished hugging each other, Alex brought up the unasked question.
"Isn't this new house going to cost a lot of money?"
"Penny, show Alex and Nora the contract of sale. Please look at the bottom of page 37."
Alex and Nora paged through the sales contract.
"Seven million dollars!"
"Property values have gone way up since I bought the building. It's a little crazy."
"I believe that the real estate market in that area of Brooklyn is nearing its peak. This is a very opportune time for Penny to sell her property. And if you add our collective savings to the pot I am certain we will be able to find a property that will be a good home to us for many years to come and a fine place to raise children."
It didn't take them very long to find a house that satisfied them all. And the wackadoodle family with one daddy, three mommies and four children lived happily ever after.
Epilogue 2
"Mom, you agreed to do it."
"And you agreed that I would be in shadow and nobody would see anything. I'm over forty and just had twins, for God's sake."
"Sweetie, the twins were born six months ago and you are in better shape now than you were in when you were dancing. You should flaunt it," yelled Nora from the side of the stage."
"Mom, remember, this is incidental footage. The only one who gets a copy of your whole routine is Sheldon. I'm only using bits and pieces in my film. Same thing with you and Nora and your Buffy/vampire thing."
"I can't friggin' believe you convinced two mothers to strip on film."
"Well, Nora said she wouldn't do it unless you did it. And Sheldon and Alex said they wouldn't back the film unless both of you were dancing in it."
"I can't believe our family is making us do this."
"Are you ready mom?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"Nope."
"Music."
Prince's Lemon Crush played over the loudspeakers.
"Action."
The lights came up on Penny in her Batgirl costume.
A/N: And that's it. Hope you enjoyed the ride. It got a little bumpy both inside and outside the story but this is still essentially the tale I wanted to tell. And spending more time with Nora has helped me figure out some issues with another story. No promises about when you'll hear from me again. I hope it's soon. Thank you all for reading, following and reviewing. Our little corner of the TBBT multiverse is very supportive.