A/N This chapter contains a brief description of the production and transportation of finished goods, from a major company. I could have really gone crazy on this, but I spared you by limiting it to two paragraphs, just giving you an idea of what is involved. Sales Forecasting, production scheduling, distribution (both truck and train) scheduling, is something I did for Tropicana Products (mostly juice), back before I was forced to retire due to major medical problems. Also, the discussions between Leonard and Eric, about what it would mean for Leonard's experiments, are scientifically accurate. Yes, I know it's a hour early, but I'll be leaving here shortly, so enjoy.

Chapter 43

Tuesday 25 February, 3:00 PM

Leonard had just finished his presentation, to Dr Gablehauser, explaining how the changes he was planning for the current setup, would get him to 14 entangled photons, rather than ten entangle photons. Then he explained how the same changes, to the new experiment, would allow them to entangle first, 18, and then 24 photons, instead of just 14 and 18. But Leonard wasn't sure changing an approved proposal would be allowed.

Eric listened to Leonard's ideas, then asked for some of the calculations Leonard had done. Leonard provided those, and Eric checked over the math. As he was looking over the calculations, he was thinking about how simple and elegant this change was. It was a stroke of genius. After Eric finished checking them, he leaned back in his chair, thought for a bit, then said, "And, if you are able to get the machine to produce these increased number of entanglements, what will that mean to us?"

Leonard had a feeling that Eric knew perfectly well what it meant, and he felt he was being tested, but he answered, "Several things. More entangled photons would provide us with the ability to make larger, and more efficient logic gates, for quantum computing."

Eric nodded.

Leonard continued, "We would also be able to teleport more degrees of freedom, since you need one pair for each degree of freedom. It would also allow us to investigate the limits of the no-cloning and no-deleting theorems, which may provide some insight into the black hole information paradox, and some other quantum problems."

That one, Eric didn't know. That could cause a major leap forward theoretically, "Will you be able to do these experiments?"

"Definitely," said Leonard. "I talked with some of my team, and they were shocked no one had thought about this before."

"Well, first off, you can go ahead and make the changes," said Eric. "As long as the experiment is still doing the minimum of what the proposal stated, the changes won't matter. You're still providing entangled photons, it just now, you'll be providing more of them."

"Thank you, sir," said Leonard. "My plan is now to run the experiment next month, with ten photons. Make the changes and try to entangle 14 in June. Then start redoing the machine according to the proposal. If we get 14 in June, with the changes I proposed, that makes it almost certain we can do the 18 and 24 entangled photons, in the fall."

Still, Eric seemed to wonder about it and wanted to make sure Leonard was sure about it, "Again, how sure are you about this?"

"I am positive these changes will give us the higher number of entangled photons. I don't see how we can't at least try to do this," said Leonard, confidently. "If it works, as I think it will, this will give us a chance to jump those that are trying to get to 14 entangled. This would be a big step forward."

Eric nodded and said, "This is great, Leonard." He paused, looking at Leonard for a bit, until Leonard became uncomfortable, but continued looking right at Eric. Finally, Eric said, "Leonard, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"In the last year, something has changed about you," said Eric. "You were a pretty wishy-washy, wouldn't look me in the eye, just not a confident decision-maker. To be honest, I wasn't sure about making you a co-lead. I knew Mike was leaving, but I didn't think you had the decisiveness to run a team. President Siebert, however, was insistent about it, and it has turned out quite well. What changed?"

Leonard thought for a bit, before saying, "Well, the reason I wasn't very decisive, was because I wanted to make everyone happy. My wife finally pushed me to be more assertive and decisive. With her doing that, I decided I wanted to lead the plasma physics team. So, I drew up a plan and presented it to President Siebert. He said no, and I walked out, intending to leave the university."

Eric laughed, "That must have surprised him."

"I think it did," laughed Leonard. "He came running after me, saying he didn't want to lose me and offered me the co-lead for this team. I didn't know, at the time, that Mike was leaving. I've tried to stay more assertive and decisive, and while I'm still working on it, I've gotten much better."

"Yes, you have," said Eric. "You also have the social skills your other friends, say Dr Cooper, lack, and looking over this idea, you seem to have some insight, into the theoretical aspects, unusual for an experimentalist. You also know when to compromise, and over the last few months, you seem to have a vision, for the university, and for its faculty."

Leonard looked puzzled, "Er…what do you mean sir?"

"I told you, it's Eric," said Eric. "Your friends, for example, you told me how to get around Dr Cooper's reticence to go to other places. You found a better slot for Dr Koothrapolli, and Mister Wolowitz is going for his PhD, because of the seeds he says you planted in his mind. All of this is great for those three, but it also is a big help to the university. To have people in the proper positions or being willing to help the university. In addition, I will tell you, your team is very happy with you."

"So, continue to be assertive, like you have been, and keep giving students and faculty good advice. You seem to be able to make a lot of people happy, by being assertive."

"Well, it was pointed out to me, that I can't make everyone happy," said Leonard. "In this case, I look at it as what will make the team happy, and that seems to work."

"While I want you to continue to work on the physics," said Eric. "There is something else I want you to think about. Learn more about the administrative side. You know, I won't be around here forever, I'm about five years from retiring, and they'll have to find someone to run the physics department. Keep that in mind. Go ahead and make the changes to the approved proposals, and send them to me. I'll give you a call when I see them. I'll talk to you later."

Leonard stood and left. He was stunned. Was Eric telling him, they were considering him for the physics chair when Eric left. No, that can't be it, thought Leonard, I still don't know much about the administrative side. But, he was thinking about it for the rest of the afternoon.

Wednesday 26 February, 7:00 PM

The three women had all the dishes and silverware set out, when the guys came in, from the comic book store, and having stopped to pick up dinner. Penny and Bernadette made plates for Halley and Michael, while everyone else got their own food. Penny and Bernadette got their's last, and while everyone ate, there was small talk about everyone's day.

After eating, Raj and Howard started cleaning up, when Leonard asked Sheldon about his trip to Fermi Lab. Sheldon shook his head, "Leonard, those people there understood the ideas of super-asymmetry less than you do."

"Sheldon," cautioned Amy.

"It's okay, Amy, he said I was better," said Leonard. "I was ahead of the game with that one."

"What game?" asked Sheldon.

"Just continue," said Amy, in frustration.

"I mean, I was able to impart some of the knowledge to them," said Sheldon. "But, I think their experimental team has a better idea on what it means."

"Although, President Siebert did call me to tell me to stop insulting them. But, I don't see what I did wrong. I complimented them and they got a bit huffy and then I got the phone call."

"Sheldon, what did you say?" asked Amy.

"Nothing bad," said Sheldon. "I simply said they were a better trade school than MIT."

Everyone shook their heads. Sheldon looked around and said, "What?"

"Sheldon," said Amy, "calling one of the premier collider facilities a 'trade school' is an insult to them."

"But…" started Sheldon.

"No, Sheldon, it is," said Leonard.

"But…"

"Amy's right, Sheldon," said Howard.

"But…"

"You're wrong, Sheldon," said Bernadette.

"Okay, fine," said Sheldon. "You all sound like President Siebert. He said I'm going to have to attend a class on etiquette, before my next trip."

The rest of the group hid their smiles.

"At least they did apologize to me," said Sheldon. "They also asked me to pass the apology on to Amy, which I did. They were sorry for the problems Pemberton and Campbell caused. And, they did give me the copies of the data they got with the experiments."

"I did finally have some useful conversations with the theoretical people, it might even allow me to tie gravity into it. But, overall, except for the experimental team, I don't really think it was a successful trip. I'm really going to have to talk to Dr Gablehauser, about what a waste of time and effort these trips are."

Amy, realizing it would take some one-on-one discussion, to explain things to him, decided to change the subject and asked Penny about her and Leonard's trip. After the discussion about Penny and Leonard had run its course, Penny did ask Howard and Bernadette, if they were busy on Saturday.

They both said no, and Leonard asked if Howard minded taking Leonard to a couple of places, with their van, as they wanted to pick up baby furniture and start getting Sheldon's old room ready to be the twin's room. Sheldon started to say something, but Amy stopped him, and the rest of the group just laughed. Howard agreed, and Bernadette said she would come over with Howard, and she and Penny could wait for them.

At 8:30, the Wolowitz's started packing up, so they could leave by 9 PM. Raj left with them, and Amy and Sheldon went to their apartment, to get Sheldon ready for bed, also. Penny and Leonard finished cleaning up and then watch a little TV, before getting ready for bed themselves.

Thursday 27 February, 4:00 PM

Penny had a headache, as she rode back, to the office, with Dan. This week had been rough for Penny. She and Dan had spent the week working on forecasting, production, shipping, and how it was all tied together, within logistics, and it was all spinning around in her head.

Monday had been forecasting, and how Penny was expected to provide the logistics section with her district's sales estimates, for the various drugs, for the week. She also learned how she needed to be as accurate as possible, and how much each percentage point miss would cost the company, Tuesday, Dan showed her how that sales forecast, was then propagated through the company's production computer system, and how the production, for each drug's final form, was scheduled. She also learned how each of the materials needed to make the final product were scheduled to be delivered to the production facility, by the purchasing department, who bought the materials needed, based on production needs.

On Wednesday, she learned about transportation, and how trucks were scheduled to take the material to the production facility, to make the drugs. Once those materials were turned into finished drugs, such as capsules and pills, how trucks were needed to move them to warehouses, where more trucks were used to moved them to the pharmacies. On Thursday, Dan took Penny to the logistics building, and the production facility, so she could see exactly what those departments were doing. Penny was astonished at everything that had to happen, at just the right time, just to get a pill to a doctor or patient.

But, she had a headache, was starting to feel breathless, and she could feel the gas moving around in her stomach. On top of all that, she still had her emails and voicemails to go through. She and Dan were scheduled to go through some management skills tomorrow morning before she got off at noon. Leonard was also taking off at noon, as they would be packing up everything in Sheldon's own room, as they prepared the room, for the twins.

Friday 28 February, 7:00 PM

Leonard and Penny had gotten home around 3:00 PM, after stopping by Lowes and picking up paint for the room. Penny wanted it cheery, and thought of her old bedroom, and had bought pink, orange, lime green, and blue, not worrying about pink or blue for girls or boys.

They then started taking the bed apart, along with taking everything out of the dresser and nightstand. Those, along with the bed, would go to Amy and Sheldon's bedroom, while all of Penny's furniture, would go into Leonard and Penny's storage cube. Once it was apart, they moved it, along with the drawers to the area behind the couch. They moved the dresser and nightstand, both without drawers, in the living room, before moving the drawers there also, so Howard, Sheldon, and Leonard could move them tomorrow.

They then went to Ikea, Target, and Pottery Barn Kids, buying the beds, dressers, and changing tables, they had decided on. All of which, would be picked up tomorrow, again, using the van. On the way home, they stopped to pick up dinner and were now eating, planning on watching some TV, before going to bed early, as it was going to be a busy day on Saturday.

Saturday 29 February, 8:00 AM

Leonard, Amy, and Sheldon started moving the bed and other furniture into 4B, and Penny's stuff to 4A. Howard and Bernadette arrived just after nine and everyone pitched in to load up the Van. Afterward, Leonard and Howard left for the storage pod, unloading the furniture into the pod. Finally, they went to the three stores where Leonard and Penny had bought furniture on Friday.

Getting back to the apartment, Leonard and Howard moved the crib, changing table, and dresser boxes into the bedroom, leaving the bassinet boxes, in the living room. Leonard and Penny, then took Howard and Bernadette, and their kids, out for lunch. Leonard and Penny returned back to their apartment, around 2:00 PM, while Howard and Bernadette went back to their house.

They already had a plan, knowing Penny was better with tools. The plan was for Leonard and Penny to take the dresser and two cribs out of the boxes, and start putting them together on Sunday morning. Penny would put the things together, with Leonard's help when the pieces were too heavy, or too awkward for her to hold and put together, by herself. They got everything out of the boxes, made sure all the pieces were there, then took the boxes down to the trash.

They were planning on going out for dinner, and so took showers, and got ready to go out. They went to their favorite Indian restaurant and got back by 8 PM. Penny was soon watching some television while Leonard was on his computer. Around 10 PM, Leonard closed his computer and sat on the couch with Penny, cuddling. Their cuddling soon turned into making out, which soon turned into sex. After they finished, they clean up, and started preparing for bed, getting to bed by 11:30 PM.

Sunday 01 March, 9:00 AM

Leonard and Penny had gotten up at 8 AM, had their coffee, and went into, what they were now calling, the babies', or the twins', room. Leonard had a plan for where to put everything, in the room. The space was tight, but Leonard was pretty sure everything would fit.

They started with the dresser, as there was really only one place for it. So, they put that together and put it in its place. Next were the cribs. The first one went together, and they found the first problem. Part of the space, where it was to go, included the door arc. Moving the crib, to leave room for the door, meant that there was about two feet of unusable space, in the corner of the room, away from the door.

They managed to move the dresser, a bit, allowing enough room to place one of the changing tables in the corner. They had to move it a bit more, to have enough room to use the changing table. As a result of that, the second crib's location had to be changed. By now, Penny was feeling tired and a little stressed, so Leonard told her it would be best for her to go lay down, and he would put the other changing table and the bassinets together. Penny reluctantly agreed and went to lay down, while Leonard started on the final changing table.

An hour later, Penny woke up, feeling refreshed, without feeling stressed. She got up, and started to leave the bedroom when she heard, "Dammit, why can't I get this to fit."

She hurried to the twins' room and entered. There was Leonard, with everything put together, and the two bassinets, along with a changing table in the middle of the room. He saw her come in and said to her in a frustrated voice, "They don't fit, Penny. The room isn't big enough for all the stuff for the twins."