A/N I think some might have misunderstood the second A/N in the last chapter. I am aware of legalities, that's why I mentioned the company is on the hook, legally, if they pulled the offer, after Penny told them she was pregnant. And, yes, that last sentence was a joke. I knew what was going to happen, as the first draft, of this chapter, was written at the end of October. So, now you finally get to find out. Enjoy.
ETA: I was out, and the publish function, on Fan Fiction website, was not available, on my phone. I just got home, so here's the chapter.
Chapter 35 2971
Friday 24 January, 9:30 AM
Leonard was waiting for Tony to come by. This would be their usual Friday weekly meeting, and although they had only met a couple of times, Leonard had started to look forward to the meetings. Tony was a funny guy, and though their discussions were serious, he always brought a sense of humor to the meetings. Tony arrived and Leonard checked the notes he had taken for the week. The notes related to the current experiment, and how his thesis tied in with the upcoming experiment. Tony then went over his plans for next week, especially where he would be working on building the machine.
Leonard told him they should be ready to do the first runs, sometime in March, then the second part in May or June, and the third part, in the fall. Leonard laid out the expected timetable for Tony. He could start writing his thesis, in a few weeks, and how he expected Tony to be able to finish it, after the last run in the fall. The oral defense would be in the spring, and Leonard expected him to get his Ph.D., at the end of the next school year. Tony agreed with the timetable and he collected his things and left.
Friday 24 January, 10:30 PM
Amy was preparing for her first meeting, to discuss a grad student's work. She looked over the paperwork. He was from the Midwest, Indiana to be specific, with a Bachelors's degree from Purdue University, and now going for his Masters and, Ph.D. from Caltech. He had told Amy that he wanted to work with her, because of her previous research with the great apes. He was trying to find differences between the chimp and human brains and she had found his ideas interesting, as they matched quite a few of hers.
Today was simply to get together and talk about his research path, his plans for research, and any courses he might have to take. She had agreed to take on another student earlier this week but hadn't yet met with her. She was looking forward to having the two students, because they would both be helping her with her research, as their research and theses would be tangential, to her research.
There was a knock on the door, and Amy rose saying, "Come in." Her first meeting, with Robert Reid, was about to start.
Monday 27 January, 8:30 PM
Penny had spent most of the last week, preparing for this moment, but she was still unsure. A lot of it was going to depend on Dan's reaction, and she simply wasn't sure how he was going to react, leading to her current nervousness. She picked up the phone and called Dan. He answered and Penny said, "Hi Dan."
Dan said, "Penny, good to hear from you, what's up?"
"Are you busy right now?"
"No," said Dan, "why?"
Penny sighed, then said, "I need to come and see you, we have to talk."
Monday 27 January, 8:45 AM
It took Penny only a couple of minutes to get to Dan's office. She knocked and she heard him say, "Come in," and she walked in, closed the door and Dan pointed to a chair in front of his desk.
"So, does this have to do with the offer?"
"Yes, it does," said Penny.
"Good news, I hope," said Dan.
"I'm not really sure," said Penny, "that's what we need to talk about. First off, Dan, I'm pregnant."
"You're pregnant?" said Dan incredulously.
"Yes, I am," said Penny. "And, I thought I should tell you, because you've offered me a job that I will have to learn, and at minimum, I'm going to miss four months, in the middle of learning that job. The company gives four months of maternity leave and I also may be taking it easy, because I don't want what happened to Bernadette, happen to me."
"What happened to Bernadette?"
"Remember?" said Penny, "She had to take three months off, before the birth, because between her first kid, and work. Her doctor put her on bed rest before he second was born and then she was off for four months, for maternity leave."
"Oh, okay, yeah, I remember that," said Dan, nodding.
Penny said, "I don't want that to happen to me. I would rather take care of myself, by taking a day or two off, here and there. By staying healthy, I would be able to work right up until a day or two before I deliver."
"Well," said Dany, "in Bernadette's case, she already had a kid, and was working too hard. Since you don't have any kids yet, I don't think a simple pregnancy, should wear you out. However, if your doctor advises it, by all means, take off the time you need, before."
Penny grinned at him, "There is one other thing…."
"What's that?"
"It's not going to be a simple pregnancy, as you seem to think," said Penny. "I'm having twins."
Dan put his face in his hand and rubbed it, then stopped, keeping his face in his hand, while he thought about what Bernadette had told him about going to court. But, we weren't going to pull Bernadette off of her project, and we're not keeping Penny away from the promotion she deserves. We'll just have to work around it.
He sighed, looked up, he said, "Penny, I pushed for your promotion, and I don't think you being pregnant should have anything to do with keeping you from getting the promotion. Do you still want to accept the promotion?"
Penny smiled, "Yes, I do."
Dan smiled, "I'm glad, I just want you to follow what your doctor says. I was planning on staying on as the DM for up to six months, depending on how your training went, say through the end of August. When are you due?"
"Around the end of June," said Penny.
Dan looked at his calendar, "So, that would be the end of October when you would come back. That could be good, timing-wise. I was planning on training you, while you were training Karen. For now, let's concentrate on getting Karen trained, and we'll work your training in when we can. Once Karen is off on her own, then we can get heavily involved in training you, up until you deliver. After you get back, then we can do a bit of a refresh, and finish. But, before delivery, if it gets to be too much and you feel you need a day or two here and there, I won't object, just let me know. Is that fine with you?"
Penny smiled with relief and nodded, "Yes it is Dan. I'm sorry I'm making this more difficult than you were planning on."
"It's fine," said Dan. "I do have a question for you though. The first six weeks, of your maternity leave, I don't want to hear from you, you stay home and bond with your babies, take care of yourself, and relax." Dan smiled, "Oh, maybe come in and show them off, but I won't contact you, I want you to just take it easy, and recover, OK?"
Penny nodded.
Dan continued, "But, would you object to coming in a day or two, here and there, during the last two months? I'm not demanding that you come in, because I really can't, due to the maternity leave guidelines. But, I'm thinking about say, if something comes up, that would be useful for you to learn about being a DM. In that case, I could call, explain it, and if you're able and want to come in, you come in to learn about it."
"As long as I'm not coming in every other day," said Penny, "I wouldn't see a problem with it."
"Oh, no, no," said Dan, "I was thinking of a day every couple weeks or so, at the most. It would probably be much less."
"That would be fine," said Penny.
"By the way," said Dan, "nice write up, on the conference. Tim was impressed with it too."
"Thank you," said Penny.
"Can I ask why you didn't write up the disagreement, with Al?"
"Well, he wasn't the one who objected to the three of us," said Penny. "It was the other guy, Roy. Although when Al called me 'little lady', it kinda pissed me off."
Dan sighed, "I'm not defending him on that, he shouldn't have said that, but that does sound like something the Texas group would say."
"But," said Penny, "I have to give him credit, he did treat me like he treated the rest of his DMs, in fact, a bit better, and I'm only a salesperson. He also kept saying good things about me to the managers that came to my presentation."
"Well, he called us, Tim and me," said Dan. "And, as I told you, he has shown an interest in hiring you, as a DM. So, do me a favor, and if he calls, tell him we did promote you."
Penny nodded.
Dan continued, "He was impressed with how your presentation was organized, how well you spoke, and how impressive the supporting materials were. And, just to let you know, he was very impressed with how you defended your team."
"Er, what?"
"Yeah, standing up for your people like that, is a big thing," said Dan. "We told you there were a few things holding us back from promoting you. We realize that you don't have a degree, and your managing skills are probably your weakest point. You and I are going to evaluate the different points, of being a DM, and where you're weak, we'll work on it."
"The good news is, in this type of job, all your salespeople are going to be highly driven, will push themselves to succeed. By demonstrating a willingness to defend the people that work for you, it suggests, to them, that you have their backs. This can make them more willing to take your suggestions, knowing if it doesn't work, you'll own up to the mistake, instead of blaming them."
Penny thought about that for a bit. She wasn't thinking about it having anything to do with managing people, she just thought it was the right thing to do. I may have to look into this a bit more. Good thing Dan's going to help me with that. "Is there anything else you need?"
"Not right now," said Dan, "we still have to talk about your salary, time off, all of that. And, you have to set up a meeting with me, and Karen, with you attending."
"I'm planning on that for next week," said Penny. "Do you want to do mine before or after Karen?"
"We can do it before," said Dan, looking at his calendar. "How about we talk over yours, next Tuesday morning, and Karen's in the afternoon?"
"Sound's good," said Penny, "I'll set both of those up, and send them to you. Is there anything else?" "So, are you accepting the position?" said Dan.
Penny nodded, and said, "Based on what you said, yes, I'm accepting. I will tell you my biggest concern was protecting the babies, by not over-stressing myself. So, I have to know, is what you said about training, taking time off if I'm stressed, all of that…is that a promise, by you?"
"Yes, you can accept what I said as my word," said Dan. "But, I will do this, I'll agree to it, in writing, by listing what we talked about, and signing it. That way, you'll have something concrete backing you up. I'll give it to you, before you officially accept, how's that?"
Penny smiled, Thank you. But, we still have to agree on salary and other things.
"OK, then I'll talk to you about that on Tuesday," said Dan. "I'll also have the paper with me, so you have it before you accept. I'm really happy for you Penny, I think you'll do a great job as a DM." Dan then smiled and held out his hand, and Penny stood and shook it. Then Dan said, "Congratulation on the babies, I'm happy for you there, also."
Penny smiled, nodded, and left Dan's office, walking toward her office. Suddenly, she got a very strong feeling of needing to pee. So she found a restroom, and peed, then headed for her office.
Monday 27 January, 11:25 AM
Penny was planning on going to lunch with Bernadette at noon, but she had suddenly become very hungry. So she called Bernadette and asked if they could go early. Bernadette agreed and said she would be down in a few minutes.
Fifteen minutes later, they were seated in the restaurant, with their drinks. Penny was glad she hadn't talked to Bernadette, because now she had a surprise to spring on her, so she slyly said, "I do have some news, I've been talking to Dan…"
Bernadette looked at Penny, and said, "Are you going to accept the district manager position?"
Bernadette took a bit of bread, as Penny's mouth dropped open. She looked at Bernadette in astonishment, "How do you know?"
Bernadette took a sip of her tea and said, "Remember I kept telling you to stick around, but I couldn't say anything, because none of it was official?"
"Yes," said Penny, "and you were told you couldn't say anything."
"Yeah, that too."
"But how did you know?" asked Penny.
"Well, I was involved with everything," said Bernadette. "Look, this has been coming for the last year. They actively started planning the reorganization, of this place, last summer. When they hired Dan, the position was sort of a catch-all, in charge of research and sales. Well, they are splitting that position."
"Ok, yeah, Dan told me that," said Penny."Dan is moving over to become the VP in charge of sales for California, based here,"
Bernadette said, "He'll be the supervisor of the nine site managers in California. The site managers supervise the District Managers at each of the nine sites, in the state. In addition to the site managers, he'll also supervise the DMs here. Molly, the person supervising the DMs now, is taking over at another site, in San Francisco, I think. As for research, they are bringing in a new person, to take over as VP of the research teams. That person will supervise the ten research teams located here, like Dan will supervise the ten sites."
"How do you know all this?"
Bernadette said, "Well, I've been on the planning board since it started because I've been a senior scientist here longer than anyone else." Bernadette paused, and looked at Penny with a sly grin, "Besides, I'll be the one taking over as VP of research, here. All the research teams will report to me."
Penny's mouth dropped open, "What, you're going to be a VP?"
"Yep," said Bernadette, with a smile, "but that's not known yet, so you can't say a word."
"Holy shit," said Penny, "congratulations."
"Howard still doesn't know," giggled Bernadette. "I told him I'm in the running, and I told him if I got it, I would take it. He told me to go for it, but he doesn't know it's a done deal, because it was finalized this morning, so I'll tell him tonight. It should be announced either tomorrow or Wednesday, so we can both announce it Wednesday night, to the rest of the gang."
Penny was now smiling, "Yeah, that should be fun on Wednesday."
Just then, their food was brought. Penny had ordered a salad, with blackened chicken, and Bernadette said, "Penny, you don't know it yet, but you'll be eating a lot in the next couple of weeks. Just make sure you watch your weight."
"I will, I will," said Penny, before taking a bite of her salad.
Monday 27 January, 6:25 PM
Amy was trying to figure out what to make for their dinner. Sheldon was doing some work on his whiteboard and kept saying he wasn't hungry yet when there was a knock on the door. Amy opened it and Penny said, "Hi."
"What's up, bestie?" said Amy, inviting Penny in.
"Leonard's running late and won't be home for another couple of hours, so I'm going out for dinner and to do a little maternity shopping," said Penny, "do you want to come with?"
"Sheldon?"
"Sheldon," said Amy a bit louder.
"Sheldon," yelled Amy.
"Mmpphh," said Sheldon, turning to look at Amy. "What?"
"I'm going to dinner and shopping with Penny," said Amy. "Is that all right with you?"
"Of course," said Sheldon. "That will leave me by myself, to do my work. My preferred method."
"What about your dinner?" asked Amy.
"I'll figure out something," said Sheldon.
Amy shrugged, grabbed her purse, and she and Penny left. They drove to the Glendale Galleria, and Penny was craving a burger, so they ate at an In and Out Burger, then spent until closing time, looking in several stores. She bought several outfits for work, and several maternity dresses from Forever 21 and The Loft. She bought three of them several sizes bigger, so she would be able to wear them at work for several months. She also bought a couple of pairs of sweats, that would be comfortable for her, around the house.
They left at 9:00 PM when the mall closed, and on the way home Penny made a stop. Although, Amy kept saying she had to be home by 9:30 because Sheldon would go to bed. Penny made the stop anyhow, and they still got to the fourth floor, with five minutes to spare, said goodnight, and entered their apartments.
