A/N Remember the doctor saying Penny should enjoy this part of her pregnancy? This is something Leonard planned for her. This is a fairly long chapter, with another A/N at the end. Enjoy.
Chapter 42
Thursday, 20 February 12:45 PM
"Yeah, I know," said Leonard. "We're going for the weekend, up the coast to Monterrey. Spend some time seeing a few sites, just a relaxing weekend."
"What about work?"
"I took off and called Dan on Monday, and told him what I was planning," said Leonard. "He told me to go ahead and take you. So, I booked places to stay, looked up some places to go, and where to eat. We'll be visiting some sites today, tomorrow, and Saturday. On Sunday, we'll drive home, so we can be back to work on Monday."
"What about clothes?"
Leonard chuckled, "You know when I put my bag in the car this morning?"
"Yeah, as I was leaving."
Leonard was still smiling, "All I did was to take it back out, and went back to the apartment, to pack some comfortable clothes for both of us, some toiletries, it's all in the trunk. When Dr Samuels said to enjoy the next few weeks of your pregnancy, I thought us getting away for a weekend would be the best thing. I spoke with her on Monday, she thought it was a good idea. After all, this is probably our last chance, to have a trip, before the twins arrive. This means this is our last trip alone for probably a few years."
That surprised Penny. It was going to be the last time they could do this, without kids. Well, at least until the twins were older. Then she thought back to Monday when she saw Leonard talk to Dr Samuels. Then she thought about something else, "What about my car, it's at work."
Leonard's grin got really big, "Actually, Bernadette will drive it back to the apartment, I gave her the spare key. She made up that excuse about taking her car in for maintenance, so she could drive it home. Howard will pick her up on his way home."
Penny smirked at him, "So, you managed to plan this whole thing out, without telling me?"
"I wanted it to be a surprise," said Leonard. "We're driving on the Pacific Coast Highway to Morro Bay. Have dinner, spend the night, then, tomorrow leave there, and stop at a few places, like the Hearst Castle and McWay falls, before getting to Monterrey, for the night. On Saturday, we'll see a few more places, and spend Saturday night in Monterrey again. On Sunday, we'll drive home, on a different route."
"I made sure there isn't too much walking or climbing," said Leonard. "If you get tired, there are a lot of places for you to rest. No pressure, we do what you can, so it should be relaxing and comfortable."
"Did you build in stops for me peeing?"
Leonard laughed, then said, "No, but we have enough time that if you have to stop, we can stop. Tonight we're staying at The Front Street Inn. It's got waterfront view, canopy beds, and fireplaces in the rooms."
Penny smiled, "Thank you, sweety, I can't wait. Despite what Sheldon says, you, are the road trip god. I don't think there is going to be any problem sleeping in the same bed, this time."
"No, there shouldn't be," said Leonard. "We're not going to a spa, and Sheldon, won't be there with us."
"That is going to be the most relaxing part, of all," said Penny, with a grin.
Friday, 21 February 9:40 PM
Leonard and Penny were relaxing on their room's balcony in Monterrey. They had spent last night in Morro Bay, and had breakfast in a small cafe next to the hotel, before leaving for the day's drive.
Their first stop was at the Hearst Castle, at San Simeon, a large mansion on the top of a hill, with views of the Pacific Ocean. It had been owned by the very wealthy newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst and had been built from 1919 to 1947 and was very ostentatious. It had several pools, tennis courts, multiple gardens, and within the 46 large rooms, including lobbies, were many art objects, and was now a museum, owned by the state of California.
They spent over three hours, with frequent breaks for Penny, going through the buildings and grounds. Taking pictures of the various places. They left around one, and drove for 45 minutes, before finding a restaurant for lunch. They spent a relaxing hour, both ordering hamburgers, and then continuing up the coast.
Around 3 PM they arrived at McWay falls. They parked and took the short walk down the trail to the beach. It was a small beach, surrounded mostly by sheer cliffs, with McWay Creek, falling over one of the cliffs, into the Pacific Ocean. Leonard and Penny took some pictures and enjoyed the views for a while, before walking back up the trail and getting back to their car, and continuing north toward Monterrey. As they were getting closer to Monterrey, they saw the spa, where they had spent that horrendous weekend with the gang, at a science conference. They both looked at each other and shuddered.
Penny and Leonard arrived at the Monterrey Plaza Hotel, around 4:30 PM, and checked in. Getting to their room, they found they had a balcony, overlooking Monterrey bay, along with a fireplace. There was a bottle of sparkling grape juice and flowers, which Leonard had ordered, waiting in the room.
They took a shower, then laid down for a bit. At six, there was a three-minute walk, to The Chart House, for dinner. The restaurant served fresh seafood and had a view of Monterey Bay. Leonard ordered the MahiMahi, with the peanut sauce and Penny ordered a steak, causing Leonard to laugh, and point out they were at a fresh seafood restaurant, it was silly to order steak. Penny rolled her eyes at him, and they split a salad, and a potato, with Penny, mindful of her need for iron, ordering spinach for her vegetable. As they ate their meal, they watched the sunset over the bay.
After dinner, they strolled along Cannery Row. Leonard explained some of the history of this place, and how it was used in a book with the name Cannery Row. Penny said she remembered a movie by that name and Leonard told her it was based on the book. As they walked down the street, they would look into shops and souvenir places looking at souvenirs or odd nicknacks. Just before they turned around, Penny noticed the large building that housed an aquarium, and ask Leonard if they could go to it tomorrow. Leonard said they would talk about it when they got back to the room.
They walked back, and stopped and bought a few souvenirs, to remind them of the trip, before making it back to their room. There they talked about the next day. Leonard had planned on going to see some of the nature sites, further north, along the coast highway, but as he explained the aquarium and Fisherman's Wharf, Penny seemed to be more excited about those things, so Leonard changed his plans to visit those tomorrow. They opened the sparkling grape juice after deciding where to go the next day and they were now on their balcony, watching the moon set, while they drank their fake sparkling wine. At 10 PM, they came into their room and started to prepare for bed. They only got to closing their balcony curtain and taking their clothes off, before they were kissing. They enjoyed some slow, tender lovemaking, before cleaning up and falling asleep, holding each other.
Saturday, 22 February 9:00 AM
Leonard and Penny had gotten up at 8:00 AM, and dressed comfortably. Leaving their hotel, they walked a short distance to a breakfast cafe, where they were now eating breakfast. After a leisurely breakfast, they walked along Cannery Row, to the aquarium.
They entered, paid their admission, and looked at the brochure they'd been given. They found that there were seventeen different galleries, with over 200 exhibits. One tank was 35 feet tall, and 80 feet long. This contained a living kelp forest, along with the fish that lived in that habitat. Another, almost as large was named as the Open Ocean tank and contained fish and animals that were taken nearby, from Monterey bay.
Leonard explained that they used seawater, from the bay, filtered it, and pumped it into the tanks while draining water from the other end of the tank, which was filtered and pumped back into the bay.
They spent about three hours wandering around the various galleries, one having a large tank with jellyfish, and another, non-water exhibit, that contained Puffins, with their multi-colored beaks. There were also several stops to let Penny rest. At 12:30, they left the aquarium, and headed back to their hotel, stopping at a local Mexican food place for lunch. They each had a burrito, covered with a spicy sauce, along with some chips and salsa.
They had decided to go back to the room and relax for a couple of hours, before going out for the night. Penny's stomach was giving her a bit of a problem, I should have remembered what Dr Samuels said about heartburn. Damn that spicy sauce. They both laid down on the bed and curled up next to each other. Penny could tell Leonard had fallen asleep, but her heartburn wouldn't let her. Suddenly, Penny felt the gas move around in her stomach and the heartburn slowly subsided. As it did, she slowly fell asleep.
Saturday, 22 February 4:00 PM
Leonard and Penny had woken up after a short nap and then spent some time packing the unneeded things, for the trip home tomorrow. Now, it was time to go to Fisherman's Wharf, which was a short walk away. They spent a couple of hours looking around some old shops and a local artist draw a caricature of them together, before deciding it was time for dinner. They chose an Italian-seafood restaurant, named Domenico's. Leonard decided on the stuffed Salmon, with linguini and a white sauce. Penny, mindful of her heartburn, decided to skip the red sauce and ordered the Seafood Alfredo. As they ate, they could see the sea lions on the pillions, sunning themselves and the boats returning to their slips.
After dinner, they spent some time listening to a local folk band at one of the bars, with Leonard drinking a beer and Penny cranberry juice. Around 9:30, they started back to their room, but before getting there, Leonard bought an ice cream cone for Penny, and Italian ice for himself, then stopped and bought another bottle of sparkling grape juice. As it was a bit cool, the rest of the evening was spent inside their room, with the fireplace going.
At 11 PM, they enjoyed some sex, then cleaned up and started preparing for bed. Penny was still feeling full when they snuggled up to fall asleep. Much like the afternoon, Penny was having trouble falling asleep, when she felt the gas in her stomach move, the feeling of fullness going away, and Penny was able to fall asleep.
Sunday, 23 February 8:00 PM
Leonard and Penny's alarm went off, and they got up and got dressed. They finished packing, paid their bill, and walked out to their car, with their luggage. They put the luggage in the car and then walked over to the same small cafe they had had breakfast at the previous day. An hour later, they were on the way home.
As Leonard mentioned, they would be going back a different way. Coming up, they had used the Pacific Coast Highway, but the way back would be in the central valley. The first part of the trip was quiet, traveling on several state highways, using a pass through the coastal range to the 101. This took them between the coastal ranges, through the central valley, until they reached, Santa Margarita, where they turned left and traveled along another state highway, to the five.
Just after getting on the five, they stopped for lunch, near Bakersfield. After their lunch break, it was only just over an hour, before they got on the 210, which took them right into Pasadena, and the Corson Street exit, forty minutes later. A few more minutes on Colorado Boulevard, and they were home.
Sunday, 23 February 8:00 PM
Leonard was finishing up, folding their clothes. As soon as they got back, Penny took the laundry down to wash and went back a bit later to put it in the dryer. While Penny did the laundry, Leonard had unpacked and put away, the rest of their articles. After Penny had started the dryer, Leonard went and picked up dinner for them, bringing home some Chinese food. After dinner, Penny had started on the dishes while Leonard retrieved and started folding the dried clothes.
They were both looking forward to a good night's sleep, and so they only watched a bit of TV, before getting ready for bed. They did enjoy some sex, before cleaning up and preparing for bed and both were asleep by 10:00 PM.
Monday, 24 February 8:30 AM
Penny had gotten to work, and after looking over her emails, and listening to her voicemails, she called Dan. Asking if he was busy, and receiving a negative answer, she ask if they could talk. He told her to come on up, and she left for Dan's office. They spoke for about ten minutes, and after both agreed, Penny left to go back to her office.
Arriving there, she found Karen, as expected, since they were both scheduled to go out together today. Penny asked Karen to close the door and offered her a chair. Karen was looking puzzled, as she sat down.
Penny started, "I have the results from your field write-up."
Karen looked nervous, as she knew a bad result, could cause her to lose her position. She said, a bit tentatively, "How did I do?"
With a smile, Penny said, "Well, you scored well above the score required to pass, so congratulations."
Karen smiled also, and Penny continued, "I spoke with Dan, and we've decided, as of today, you are on your own. The territory is all yours."
Karen continued to smile, but also looked nervous.
Penny said, "Now, while you're on your own to run the territory as you see fit, I'm still here to help you if you run into problems."
Karen still looked nervous, "And are you sure I'm ready?"
"Karen, I've been showing you sales techniques since I started training you," said Penny. "You picked them up very quickly. I've seen you go through the sales pitches. You've basically been on your own the last few weeks. Yes, I'm sure. If you have any questions or run into any problem, you can call me anytime."
"Anytime?"
"Yes," said Penny, "just be aware that if I'm in a meeting or busy with someone else, you may have to wait until I'm done. But, I don't want you to think we're just going to drop you into the position, without any support. We'll be there for you."
"Thank you," said Karen. "And, don't worry, if I have a question, I'll call."
"I know you will," said Penny. "Now, get out there and do the job I know you can do."
Karen stood up, shook Penny's hand, and left the office.
Monday, 24 February 12:30 PM
Amy was waiting at the security gate, at LAX, where Sheldon would be exiting, once he was off the plane and in the terminal. He was already ten minutes late, and the screen didn't even show his plane had landed. So, she pulled out her tablet and started going through proposals for her planned experiments. As she did that, she would glance up, every five minutes or so, and finally, she saw Sheldon. She quickly put her tablet in her purse and walked up to meet him.
They kissed and hugged, "I missed you, Amy," said Sheldon.
Amy was surprised, but answered, "I missed you, too. How was the trip?"
"Actually," said Sheldon, "not as bad as I thought it would be. I got to watch several movies on the way there, and the way back. They had chocolate milk on the plane, and I didn't have any annoying people near me. There were two, but they moved, I don't know why."
Amy had an idea why, but she just started walking with Sheldon to get his bags, and then get back to the apartment. If he had missed her, there might be a chance for sex, once they got home.
Monday, 24 February 2:30 PM
Leonard heard the beep of his computer telling him he had a new email. Opening it, he found that his proposals for the experiment, for the upgrade in the fall, had been approved.
However, his new idea made both of these, pretty much obsolete. So, he called Keith Johnson, basically the number two man on the team. Keith answered and Leonard said, "Keith, can you come over to my office tomorrow? I got the approval for the proposals, but with the new ideas, I'm not sure these matter anymore. I'd like to talk it over with you before I take this to Dr Gablehauser."
"I can do that," said Keith. "How does ten tomorrow morning sound?"
"That's fine," said Leonard. "I'll talk to Eri…Dr Gablehauser tomorrow afternoon. If you could, look over the current experiment, the proposal, which I'll send to you, and the ideas we discussed. I'll go over it tonight and we'll see if we can legally make changes, okay?"
"Sure, see you tomorrow at ten?"
"Okay, see you then," said Leonard.
They both hung up, and Leonard dialed another number. After hearing the person speak, Leonard said, "Eric, this is Leonard. Can I speak with you tomorrow, afternoon? My proposals came back approved, but I've got something to run by you." Leonard listened, "Yeah, 2:30 sounds good. See you then, bye."
Leonard hung up and turned his attention to the proposals, and how he could incorporate his changes into them.
A/N A few things. One, Santa Margarita is near where Johnny's ranch was. I know he put it up for sale, but I don't know if it was sold. And B, take some time to look up Hearst Castle. It has some beautiful rooms and art objects. And, next, do the same for everything mentioned in this chapter, it might give you a short vacation for yourself.