Chapter 29
It's been six months since Leonard and Penny got married. They just came back from their honeymoon trip to the States where they visited Penny's family in Nebraska and Leonard's in New York and New Jersey. Although their visit to his mother in New Jersey wasn't as good as he hoped it to be, Penny comforted him with the fact that at least he tried to reach out and make some sort of connection to let them know that he is doing good and they need not worry. Penny was saddened after seeing her husband get hurt by his mother's cold reception and indifference. She wondered how could a loving and thoughtful person such as her husband come from a coldhearted woman like Beverly. Although she loved and supported Leonard, she knew that it would take a long time for his emotional wounds to heal and promised herself to help her husband heal and be with him along the way.
It's been two weeks since they arrived on the island and Leonard immediately went back to work to make up for lost time in his company. His partner Larry was glad to see him back as they have a few on-going jobs that needs Leonard's attention. Penny on the other hand started to make some minor changes around the house, replacing some of the old drapes and curtains and asking Leonard to fix some decaying parts of the house. She went to the nearby towns to look for some cheap, used furniture and other stuff in the house that needed to be replaced. She found some relatively good furniture and haggled with the seller to deliver them to the house since Leonard only has a motorcycle. Buster was also happy to be back on the island and was glad to sleep in his own house again. On the last few weeks of their trip, the couple noticed that Buster has lost some weight, probably the result of their frequent traveling and different time zones which the dog found a hard time adjusting to. Penny was just thankful that their dog didn't get sick during their travels.
Another couple of months has passed and Leonard's job at his company has become more hectic with new projects keeping him and Larry busy as well as meeting the deadlines of their on-going projects. He made sure to make time for his wife and Buster by going out in the evening, either by eating out, walking along the coast or just hanging outside of their house, drinking beer. They spent their weekends as they did before, but this time they went to explore the adjacent island, going over by boat and taking their motorcycle and Buster with them.
Leonard came home from work one day and saw Penny folding some clothes on the coffee table while Buster watched her. The dog barked at Leonard when he came into the house. He put his bag on his desk and sat beside his wife on the couch, kissing her cheek.
"How's my beautiful wife doing?" he said as Penny kissed him back.
"Hmm, keep doing that and maybe you'll get lucky tonight." she said teasing him.
Leonard laughed a little. "Are you kidding me? I always get lucky!" he said.
Penny lightly slapped his arm. "You're a jackass!" she playfully said.
Leonard noticed that some of the clothes are different. He picked one up and turned to Penny. "Honey, whose clothes are these?" he asked.
Penny became a little excited and smiled at him. "Honey, I have something to tell you." she said.
Leonard became more curious. "What is it?" he asked.
"Well, I've been thinking about it and I'm kinda getting bored here at the house, just waiting for you to come home in the afternoon. I saw the nearby restaurant is looking for a waitress, I applied and they agreed to give me the job." She said giving him a hopeful look.
"You mean to say that you applied to be a waitress at the restaurant?" he asked.
"Yes honey. I want to do something, keep myself busy." she said.
"Honey if you wanted to work, why didn't you tell me? I could've found something for you to do at the office." said Leonard.
"Honey I don't want to work at your company. It would just get weird between us. Please let me do this." she said.
Leonard thought for a while. "So from being an actress, you're now a waitress?" he said.
"So what? It's an honest job, plus I'm guessing the tips won't be as bad." said Penny.
"Okay. I guess it's alright. I just don't want you to stress yourself out." said Leonard.
"Thank you honey. I promise I won't tire myself out." said Penny.
"I love you." he said kissing her.
"I love you too and I promise I won't miss out on things around the house." said Penny. "Now why don't you wash up so we could eat dinner?" she said as she pulled Leonard to stand up, going to the kitchen.
They were eating dinner while talking about Penny's new job.
"So, if I eat at your restaurant, do I still give you a tip?" he said.
Penny stared at him. "Of course! And don't you go easy on the tip mister or you'll get what you paid for." said Penny.
"Honey, it's still our money. We're not earning it." said Leonard.
"I don't care. If my husband is going to be a jackass, he'll just have to find another way of getting lucky tonight." Penny proudly said. "Maybe a pillow or a sock?" she said teasing him.
Leonard sighed. "Fine. You win." he said. "But I'm telling you, I'm not gonna be shortchanged." he warned her.
Later that night, they were lying in bed, naked and tired from making love.
"How about that? I got lucky after all!" said Leonard smiling.
Penny tightened her hug of Leonard and sighed. "Yeah it was great honey." she said. "I don't know why but I'm actually excited about my new job!" said Penny.
"Really?" asked Leonard.
"Yeah! I mean this will be the first time that I'm gonna be doing something different other than acting. It won't pay as much but I'm just glad that I'll be doing something instead of staying here and taking a nap all day." said Penny.
"How long do you think you'll work there?" asked Leonard.
"What do you mean?" Penny asked.
"Well, what if you get pregnant?" he asked.
Penny was amused and a little surprised. "Honey, if I get pregnant, I'll be extra careful and I'll quit if the doctor says I have to stay home." she said. "Just relax. I can handle it." Penny said kissing him.
"Okay." said Leonard.
"And besides, I don't want to get pregnant now. Maybe next year. Okay?" she smiled at him.
Leonard nodded. "Got it." he said hugging her tight. They were quiet for a while until Penny decided to speak again.
"Honey?" she asked.
"Hmmm." Mumbled Leonard.
"Is liquid nitrogen safe for food?" Penny asked.
Leonard was surprised by his wife's question. "Why do you ask?" he asked.
"Well, the guy who makes the desserts at the restaurant uses liquid nitrogen, freezing fruits and other stuff. When you eat it, steam comes out of your nose making you look like a dragon or something." she said.
"I think it's perfectly safe as long as you don't get the liquid nitrogen on your tongue or lips." he said.
"Oh? Okay. I just thought it might make you sick or something." Penny said.
"No it won't. You know, I actually used a lot of liquefied gasses back when I was working at CalTech. Liquid nitrogen, liquid hydrogen, liquid helium. Liquid helium is actually quite interesting, no matter what container you put it in, it tends to creep out on the sides." he said.
"It creeps out?" Penny asked.
"Yeah. It's called superfluid helium and it looks like a normal liquid but flows along any surface without friction which is quite interesting." he said.
"Tell me more." she said softly, resting her head on his shoulder.
"Well, there's this idea that the empty vacuum of space can be considered as an N-dimensional super fluid medium with its own inherent properties, viscosity, temperature, density, surface tension." said Leonard.
"What else?" she said enjoying her husband's scientific lecture even if she hardly understood any of it.
Leonard immediately sat up the bed, surprising Penny. "Surface tension." he said blankly. "How come nobody thought of surface tension before?" he mumbled.
Penny sat up, pulling the blanket to cover herself. "Honey what are you talking about?" she asked.
Leonard quickly grabbed his robe and ran out of the bedroom. Penny was surprised and did the same, following him into the living room. Leonard turned on the lights and grabbed a pad of paper and some pencils and began writing on the coffee table. Penny went over and looked at what he was writing. She saw different mathematical symbols but couldn't understand any of it. She sat beside Leonard, looking at him. "Honey?" she asked.
"This may be something!" he said as he wrote hurriedly on the paper like it was a matter of life or death.
Penny looked at her husband and smiled. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "I'm going back to bed honey, you do what you need to do. I love you so much." she said as she stood up and went back to the bedroom, knowing that her husband may have stumbled upon his 'breakthrough' and needs to focus his full attention on this. She removed her robe and slipped under the covers to go to sleep, closing her eyes and smiling as she slowly drifted off to sleep.
Penny woke up around seven and saw that Leonard was already out of bed. She got off the bed, trying to fix her hair while putting on her robe. She then went straight to the bathroom to relieve herself and freshen up before making breakfast. Penny went out of the bathroom and directly to the kitchen, glancing at the living room and seeing it filled with pieces of papers, carefully laid on the floor with a few crumpled ones here and there. She went over and saw Leonard lying on the couch, fast asleep. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, startling him and sitting right back up on the couch.
"Huh!? What happened?" he asked, confused when he felt his wife.
Penny jumped back and was slightly surprised. "What!? You were sleeping on the couch honey." she said. "Were you up all night?" she asked.
Leonard rubbed his eyes and put his glasses on. "Yeah. I laid on the couch for a while. I guess I didn't notice that I already fell asleep." He said.
Penny sat beside him, being careful not to step on any of the papers on the floor. "Did you solve it?" she asked.
"Not yet. I still have to make sure that no one has already stumbled upon this idea." he said.
"How are you gonna do that?" she asked.
"I'll go online and do an extensive search but I hope this is it." he said.
"Wow really!?" she said not knowing whether to rejoice or not.
Leonard kissed her on the cheek. "This wouldn't have happened if you didn't ask me to explain liquid helium last night. You really are amazing honey!" he said hugging her.
"I'm glad I could help honey but we need to eat breakfast. You'll be late for work." said Penny as Buster came running around the house, stepping on some of Leonard's papers.
"Buster stop that!" Leonard yelled as he grabbed the papers to keep the dog from ripping them apart. Penny quickly grabbed the dog to avoid ruining Leonard's work. "Just when you needed him to behave, he completely does the opposite." Said Leonard.
"Don't yell at him honey. He's a sensitive boy." said Penny then turning to the dog. "You're a good boy right Buster? Daddy is just a jackass isn't he?" she said to the dog. Buster barked and licked Penny's face while Leonard gathered his stuff, putting them in his satchel.
"How long do you think before you can solve this theory of yours?" asked Penny as they ate breakfast.
"I'm not sure. I already wrote most of my ideas on paper. I just need to figure out the math, after that I'll write it all down into a proper paper." He said.
"I'm sure you'll figure it out honey." said Penny touching his hand.
"Thank you honey." said Leonard squeezing her hand. "I have to hurry, I'll be late for work." he said as he stood up, walking towards the bathroom.
"Honey, what's the use of you being the boss if you can't be late from time to time?" she yelled.
"It's not that. It's setting a good example to your employees, plus we have a meeting at nine o'clock today so I can't be late." he yelled from the bathroom.
Later in the afternoon, Leonard came home carrying a wide and flattened box. Penny was sitting on the couch and immediately stood up to welcome her husband. "Honey what's this for?" she asked helping him with the package.
"I bought a few whiteboards so I could do my math on the wall." he said putting his bag on his desk.
"Oh okay. Did you find out if some else had your idea?" asked Penny.
"Nobody has thought of it yet." he said sitting on the couch as Penny gave him light massage.
"That's great right?" she said.
"Yeah. I just have to figure out how to approach the math." he said. "Ugh that feels good honey." said Leonard as he relaxed under Penny's massage.
"Is it gonna be difficult?" she asked.
"I hope not. I could really use Sheldon's help right now." he said.
"Why don't you send him an email?' Penny said.
"No. I need do this on my own." he said.
Penny leaned in and kissed his cheek. "I'm sure you could do it honey. Now let's eat while the food is still hot and later, I'll make you feel better." she said teasing him.
"Wow! Two nights in a row? I'm really lucky this week huh?" he said smiling as they prepare the table for dinner.
"Of course! My baby is sad and I'm gonna make him happy!" she said as they start eating dinner.
Later in bed, Penny laid beside Leonard, hugging and kissing him passionately. "I love you so much." she said as she kissed him.
"I love you too honey." said Leonard tightening arm around his wife. "When are you gonna start at the restaurant?" he asked.
"Next week, but I have to be there for the next few days so they could train me on how to deal with customers and maybe memorize the menu." said Penny snuggling to him.
"How about Buster?" he asked.
"We'll keep him in the backyard. I won't worry about him." she said as she started to kiss him again. Leonard returned her kisses, moving on top of Penny as they made love under the sheets.