Chapter 30
For the next several days, Penny went to the restaurant to train for her job as a waitress. She did her best to memorize the menu and how to deal with customers. On her third day of training, the restaurant manager finally let her attend to a few tables, usually if the customer is alone or a couple since their order would be easy to take, the manager said. On Penny's fourth day, the manager told her that she is ready and would be starting work the next day.
Leonard on the other hand, put up the whiteboards on the walls in the living room and wrote the equations for the theory he is working on. He also put up one whiteboard in his office in case an idea comes to him during the day. He decided to immense himself back into physics and math, reading articles and the latest papers published online. Luckily, his CalTech account was still active as this gave him a chance to see some pre-prints from other scientists before they publish their papers. This gave Leonard some inspiration and new techniques on how to tackle his own theory. He was amused to see a fusion project proposal written by Sheldon and his professional rival Barry Kripke. He wondered what could have made these two to work together, probably a strongly worded email from the university president. He could already imagine the two giving each other a hard time, usually to the amusement of Howard and Raj who would prefer to let them hash it out instead of coming between them to calm things down.
They were having dinner when Penny asked him about how his theory was coming along.
"How's your theory coming along honey?" she asked.
"It's okay I guess. I have to study up again on my math and physics." he said.
"You have to study again?" Penny asked.
"Yeah. I mean it's like riding a bike or playing an instrument. You know how to do it but you kinda lose your touch so you need to practice again." he said.
"Anything I can do to help?" she asked smiling at him.
"Well if you can reconcile Quantum Theory and Gravity, that would be great!" he said laughing.
"There it is! There's the Leonard I know." she said, laughing a little.
"I'm sorry if I'm spending too much time on this. I promise I'll make it up to you." Leonard said.
"It's alright honey. Why don't we make our weekends as non-working days? You know, so we could recharge and just be lazy. What do you say?" said Penny.
"Okay I'm in. We could stay here and just fool around the house all day or we can swim in the ocean or go up the hill." He said.
"I kinda miss going up the hill." she said.
"So, how's your work at the restaurant doing?" he asked.
"It's okay I guess. I had a total of thirty dollars in tips today." said Penny.
"That's great right?" Leonard asked.
"I guess. The other waitresses there said that on a good day, it's possible to earn a hundred dollars in tips alone. If you're lucky." Penny said.
"Wow that's amazing." said Leonard as they continued eating dinner.
They retired to the bedroom after dinner and cleaning up in the kitchen. Leonard pulled Penny close, hugging her tight, kissing her cheek.
"Thank you Penny." he whispered.
"For what?" she asked looking at him.
"For everything. You basically gave up your career for me. If that's not love, then I don't know what is?" he said.
Penny touched his face. "Hey, I chose you because you make me so happy. We're a team and you need my support now." she said caressing his face.
"How could I get so lucky?" he asked.
Penny smiled at him. "Well, do you want to get lucky now?" she teased him. Leonard laughed, pulling her close and kissing her. Penny moved on top of him and began pulling his shirt over his head. She then buried her face on his neck while Leonard yanked her nightshirt and underwear off her body, before turning her over and pinning her down with the weight of his body. Penny writhed and squirmed with excitement as she gripped her husband tight, receiving her husband's affection and warmth.
Penny's job at the restaurant proceeded without any issues. The restaurant manager Janice, was glad she hired Penny as she easily relates to every customer. Penny requested Janice to have the morning shifts in her schedule in order for her to be home before Leonard arrives from work. She did this so she wouldn't miss out in spending time with her husband.
Unfortunately, Leonard slowly realized that the mathematics required for his theory may be beyond his faculties. The more he tried to reconcile his equations, the more apparent it became that his theory would take a longer time to prove, not unless he asked Sheldon's help which he was dreading to do. He knew that Penny would be disappointed if she found out about the problem with his theory. He tried to start his equations from scratch, writing on his board but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't reconcile his solutions. He felt like he was like laying an oversized carpet in a room, he pulled and fixed the carpet on one corner but there will always be excess carpet on the other three.
One night, Penny stirred and felt that she was alone on the bed. She turned over to look at her phone and saw that it was still early at two in the morning. She slowly got up, putting on her robe to go to the bathroom to relieve herself. After the bathroom, she went to the living room, finding her husband hunched over the coffee table, deep in concentration looking at a couple of books, his pad paper and his laptop. Penny rubbed her eyes and walked to sit beside him.
"Honey, it's two in the morning. Don't you think you need to rest and sleep?" she said putting her hand over his shoulder.
"I can't Penny. I need to solve this!" he said without taking his eyes off his calculations.
"Maybe the reason you can't solve it is because you're tired and slowly losing your focus?" she said.
"No. I'm focused well enough. I need to finish this. I can't fail again." he said. "You go ahead and sleep." he added.
Penn sighed and put her arms around him. "Come on honey, you need to rest." She said. "Let's get back to bed. I need you right now." Penny whispered in his ear.
"Penny no! I can't be distracted right now." he said, quickly realizing his poor choice of words.
Penny immediately glared at him. "So, you don't want to have sex with your wife!" she yelled, looking squarely at him. Leonard found it hard to respond to his wife. He knew he was neck-deep in trouble now. "Let's get something straight here Leonard, you know I support your science and stuff, me of all people want you to succeed but do you really want to go down this road?" she asked. "Do you think that I don't notice that you're kinda taking me for granted these past few days?" she said folding her arms and giving him the look. Leonard hung his head and took a deep breath. "Well!?" she asked. Leonard looked at her but couldn't find the words to say. Penny stood up and walked towards the bedroom, stopping at the door and looking back at Leonard. "I'm going back to sleep. You better use that big brain of yours and figure out what you want! Jackass!" she yelled then slamming the door behind her. Leonard closed his laptop and went to the bathroom, splashing some water onto his face and brushing his teeth. He entered the bedroom, finding Penny lying on the bed facing away from the door. He slipped under the covers and tried to put his arm around his wife. Penny quickly brushed him off, pulling the blanket to cover herself.
Leonard sighed. "Honey, I'm sorry. Please forgive me." he said softly while touching her shoulder.
"Don't you dare touch me Leonard!" she said as Leonard quickly removed his hand. "I'm going to sleep, you do what you want." she said. Leonard knew he was defeated so he decided to go to sleep as well, feeling sorry for himself for making his wife angry.
For the next few days, Leonard decided to put aside his theory and calculations for a while and focus his attention back to his wife. He made sure to wake up early and cook them some breakfast, even feeding Buster himself and sometimes cleaning up his mess at the backyard. He would always greet his wife with a hug and a kiss on the cheek coupled with a big apologetic smile, telling her how much he loves her. Penny never stopped Leonard from being extra attentive to her, knowing that Leonard has a lot to make up for. She tried her best to hide her amusement in seeing her husband overdoing stuff for her.
Penny would sometimes arrive at the house before sundown, finding Leonard already home, cooking dinner. On the fourth day, she was preparing dinner when Leonard arrived with a big bouquet of flowers.
"Honey I'm home!" he said as he went straight to Penny, giving her the flowers. Penny took the bouquet and smelled the flowers, smiling a little. "Ugh thank god you smiled!" said Leonard.
Penny rolled her eyes at him. "You're not out of the woods yet, jackass!" she said as she put the flowers into the flower vase, putting water in it. Leonard went to her, putting his arms around her waist. Penny resisted but Leonard tightened his grip until Penny couldn't move, facing him.
"I'm sorry honey. That was wrong of me and I promise it won't happen again." he said kissing her cheek. Penny pushed him away, freeing herself.
"Not yet. It won't be easy for you this time." she said walking back to the kitchen to prepare for dinner.
They ate dinner quietly for a time until Leonard decided to speak.
"Hey, why don't we go to the river the day after tomorrow?" he said hoping she says yes.
Penny looked blankly at him. "I don't know. I don't want to keep you away from anything." she said.
Leonard sighed. "Come on honey. I'm sorry. Please forgive me?" he pleaded to her.
"I'll think about it." she said trying hard not to laugh while 'torturing' Leonard.
Later that night, they laid on the bed when Leonard pulled her close attempting to cuddle with her. Penny glared at him. "No Leonard!" she said.
"Come on honey. I'm sorry for being a jackass. Please." He said never letting her go.
"Second base Leonard! Second base." She said giving him a weak smile. Leonard was glad and quickly planted a big kiss on her cheek.
"I love you so much!" he said kissing her again, tightening his hug. They went to sleep, hugging each other.
A couple of days after, Leonard was preparing his motorcycle for their trip to the river. He made sure that Buster's basket was fixed and sturdy to carry the dog who has grown to double its size since they adopted him. Penny came out from the house with her tote bag, ready for their trip. Leonard finished with his tinkering and put the dog inside the basket before getting on the motorcycle himself. Penny then followed, positioning herself behind her husband, holding tightly around his torso. Leonard turned his head looking at her.
"Ready?" he asked.
Penny smiled and kissed his cheek. "Yes honey." she said. 'Thank god' Leonard thought as he kicked the motorcycle to life and drove to their destination.
At the river, Buster was happily swimming on the water with his mommy and daddy when Leonard grabbed Penny and pulled her close. She did the same, wrapping her hands around his neck.
"So, have you learned your lesson?" Penny asked, giving him the look.
"Yes honey." he said smiling at him.
"Tell me what have you learned?" she asked.
"That I'm a jackass and deserves to be punished." said Leonard.
"What else?" asked Penny.
"That I should put my wife's happiness first and I should never take her for granted." Leonard said.
"I'm listening." she said teasing him.
"That I'm the luckiest guy in the world for having a beautiful, lovely, and wonderful wife and I'm a dumbass for making her angry." he said.
Penny gave him a quick peck on the lips, touching his face. "Good boy!" she said. "But you forgot something." she said teasing him.
Leonard stared at her, trying to figure out what she meant. "Uh, I won't do it again!?" he said.
"No. Try again." she teased him.
"Uh, I love you and I'll always try my best to make you happy?" he asked.
"Wrong!" she giggled.
"Come on!?" he said getting frustrated.
"If you don't get it right, you won't get lucky with me." She said smiling.
"Oh! I got it! I won't say no when my wife asks me for sex." he said.
"That's what I'm talking about!" she smiled kissing him on the lips.
"Ugh Thank god." he said smiling at her. "So, what do you say we get back to the house and do some things." he said teasing her.
"I thought you'd never ask!" she said then turned around looking for the dog. "Come on boy, we're going home!" she called the dog. Buster barked and wagged its tail, running to join his mommy and daddy.
They reached home as Leonard put Buster down, running back to his dog house. He then grabbed Penny's hand and pulled her into the house. Penny stood by the front door and folded her arms.
"Aren't you forgetting something mister!?" she asked.
He looked at her, puzzled by what she meant. He then smiled, knowing what he had to do. "Sorry, I almost forgot." he said then scooping her up in his arms and carrying her into the bedroom.
Penny laughed and chuckled. "Good boy!" she said holding tight on his shoulders. Leonard put her down on the bed and began kissing her while slowly taking off her clothes. He took off his clothes never taking his lips off his wife. Penny grabbed Leonard by his neck and dug her fingers in his skin making Leonard more excited. Leonard then moved on top of Penny, embracing her as he pulled the covers over him while they make love under it.
"Leonard." she said breathing heavily as they laid on the bed naked.
"Hmmm?" he mumbled.
"Let's do this every day." she said.
"Yes ma'am. Whatever you want." he said. Penny then turned and faced him, sliding her arm around him.
"Good answer." she said, pushing her face against his neck. "I'm sorry about your theory." she said.
"Don't worry about it honey. You're more important than that." he said.
"I know but still, I don't want you to get stuck." said Penny.
"Well, do you know who Andrew Wiles is?" he asked.
"Yes." she said sarcastically. "Of course not!" she yelled.
"Okay fine. No need to shout. Anyway, Andrew Wiles is this British professor who solved Fermat's Last Theorem and do you know how old that theorem was?" he asked.
"No." she said.
"Almost three hundred and sixty years." said Leonard.
"Three hundred and sixty years!?" she asked.
"Yes, and during that time, countless mathematicians tried to prove that theorem until Andrew wiles came along and managed to solve it." Leonard said.
"Nobody proved it for three hundred and sixty years?" asked Penny.
"Yes. Guess how long Andrew Wiles took to prove it?" he said.
"Uh, two months?" said Penny.
"Seven years." he said smiling at her.
"What!? It took him seven years to prove it?" Penny was surprised.
"Yes, and how many pages do you think is his solution?" Leonard said.
"Leonard, I'm beginning to get tired of this back and forth." said Penny.
"Almost one hundred and thirty pages." he said. "It took him seven years because he did it in secret, working at the attic by himself." he added.
"And do you think your theory would take that long to prove?" she asked.
"God I hope not." he kissed her. "Don't worry honey, I'll make a schedule for myself at work so I could still do my physics on the side without affecting our time together alright?" he said.
Penny hugged him tight. "Aww, thank you honey. You're really great." said Penny.
"Thank you." said Leonard.
"For what?" she asked.
"For forgiving me." Leonard said.
"Do it again and we'll see what happens!" she said looking at him. "I'm not joking Leonard! I'm gonna punch you in the face." she said.
"I promise, it won't happen again." he said hugging her tight. "I love you so much."
Penny reciprocated his hug. "I love you too!" she said as they closed their eyes to get some rest.