Chapter 51
"And that is how you compute for the slope of a line." said Sheldon as William listened closely to him while Leonard, Howard and Raj looks on as they sat around the coffee table in the living room of Leonard's house.
"I thought it would be difficult uncle Sheldon, but it's not that hard." said William.
"Once you do a bunch of them, you'll get used to it son." said Leonard as Sarah squeezed herself into her father's arms.
"Daddy, are you gonna teach me some math too?" asked Sarah.
"Yes, but only the simple stuff for now." said Leonard.
"But I wanna learn that stuff too...you know, line seg...what was that again?" Sarah said, making them all laugh.
"Line segment, little one!" said Howard.
"Exactly!" said Sarah. "Very good uncle Howard." she added, making them laugh even harder.
Leonard kissed his daughter. "Honey, you have to start with the simple stuff before you learn the hard ones." Leonard said as Sarah listened closely to him.
"It's like when you were a baby, you started rolling over on your crib, and then you went to crawling on the floor and the next thing we knew, you were running around the yard, chasing after Buster. Do you understand now?" he said.
Sarah nodded. "I do daddy."
"That's my girl!" said Leonard as Penny entered the house, carrying some grocery items.
"Hey guys! Looks like you're having fun huh?" said Penny.
"We're learning some math mommy!" said gladly Sarah, making the guys laugh at her enthusiasm.
"Really?" Penny said. "Okay, what is three plus eight?" she asked her daughter.
Sarah immediately looked at her fingers, counting silently. "Eleven?" said the young lady to the delight of her parents while Sheldon and the guys clapped their hands.
"That's correct honey!" said Leonard, hugging his daughter. "You're so amazing. I can already tell that you're gonna be as smart as your brother."
"I'm gonna make you and mommy proud daddy." Sarah said, bringing a tear to Leonard's eye.
"I'm sure you will honey." said Leonard.
"Good job sweetheart, but for now, you should help me in the kitchen while your dad and your uncles finish up their work, okay?" Penny said while reaching out to her daughter's hand.
"Okay mommy." said Sarah, holding her mother's hand and following her to the kitchen.
The guys went back to finishing their paper, making sure that they have all their computations in order as well as their citations which was handled by Leonard and Raj.
"I think this is it. We're done." said Howard while typing the last words of their work on Leonard's computer.
"I can't remember when we did something like this." said Raj.
"Yeah, that was a long time ago." Leonard said.
"At least something good came out of our visit here." Sheldon said.
Leonard tapped him on his shoulder. "I'm really glad you guys came here." he said. "So what do we do now? Do we upload it or wait another day?"
"I say we upload it now." Sheldon said.
"Aren't we gonna sleep on it?" Raj asked.
"I'm with Sheldon on this one...I'm pretty sure President Seibert and Dr. Gablehauser would be more that surprised when they see this." said Howard, laughing a little.
"Okay let's do it!" Leonard said when William decided to butt in.
"Dad, what happens if you submit your paper now?" asked the young man.
"Well, sometimes it's better to sleep on it in case you think of something wrong with your paper." said Leonard.
"Leonard, all our names are there as well." said Sheldon.
"I guess you're right Sheldon." said Leonard. "Buddy, why don't you call your mom and your sister. I want them to be a part of this."
"Okay dad." William said as he ran into the kitchen to call his mom and sister.
"What's happening?" asked Penny as she held Sarah's hand.
"We're gonna submit it now honey." Leonard said as Sarah squeezed herself into Leonard's arms.
"Can I do it daddy? Please?" Sarah asked, making them all laugh, amused by her innocence.
Leonard lifted up his daughter and sat her on his lap by the computer. "Honey, I'm not the only one who made this paper, you're uncles did most of the work too so you have to ask them as well." he said.
Sarah then faced Sheldon, Howard and Raj, giving them a cute look. "Uncle Sheldon, can I do it? Please?" said the young lady.
Sheldon smiled as Howard and Raj nodded, knowing that it doesn't matter who uploads the paper at this point. "Sure thing princess. You can help us submit it online." said Sheldon.
"Really?" Sarah said, smiling at them before facing her brother. "See that? I'm gonna help them submit it on the computer!"
"That's not a big deal. You're just gonna click on some buttons that dad's gonna show you." said William, amused by his sister's excitement.
"You're just jealous because I get to be a part of it!" Sarah said, sticking out her tongue to her brother.
"Alright cut it out!" Penny said, putting an end to the kid's bickering.
"But she started it!?" William said to his mom.
"And now I'm ending it!" said Penny, giving her kids a stern look.
"Okay, let's submit this online." said Leonard as he turned his attention to the computer, showing Sarah where to click. "Okay honey, so you move the mouse like this so that arrow goes here."
"Like this?" Sarah asked as she focused her attention on the screen.
"Yes honey." said Leonard. "Now put the arrow here and click on that left button." he said as Sarah did what her father said.
"And then what?" Sarah said.
"And then, you click this one..." he said as Sarah clicked at the icon on the screen. "Good, then this one...okay and this will be the last..." he said as Sarah clicked on the last button, completing the upload of the paper. "That's it. It's done!" said Leonard.
"That wasn't so hard daddy." Sarah said, slightly disappointed.
"I told you it won't matter." William chimed in.
"You're just saying that because you haven't done this before!" Sarah said.
"Actually he did honey." said Leonard. "But that was before you were born." said Leonard.
"You let William submit your homework too?" Sarah said, making them all laugh.
"Yes honey, he helped me submit my homework too." Leonard said, hugging and kissing his daughter.
"Oh shoot! Before I forget, I have something to give you Leonard." said Howard while looking into his backpack, pulling out an envelope with Leonard's name on it.
"What's this?" Leonard asked as he opened the envelope while Penny and the kids went beside him to see what it says. Leonard read it quietly, making sure he didn't miss anything.
"That sound great honey!" Penny said as she stood beside her husband, reading the letter with him.
"Yeah it does." said Leonard.
"What is it daddy?" asked Sarah.
Leonard was done reading and gave the letter to his wife before facing his daughter. "Honey, my boss from a long time ago wants me to come back." he said.
"Come back where daddy?" asked the young girl.
"Sweetheart, it means coming back to California." Penny said, smiling at her daughter.
"But we live here. How can daddy work for his old boss in California if we live here?" asked Sarah.
Leonard held his daughter and looked at her. "Honey, your mom and I have been talking about it and I think it's time for us to go back to California." he said, hoping his daughter would understand.
"You did?" William asked.
"You did?" Sheldon asked.
"But daddy, I don't want to go! I like our house. And what about Buster?" Sarah said.
"Are you kidding me? Of course we'll take him with us." Penny said.
"Where are we gonna live? We don't have a house over there." said Sarah.
"Sweetheart, we do have a house in California." said Penny. "It's my house. Way before I met your father."
"So it's not our house...it's your house." Sarah said.
"And you're my children! Where else are you gonna live besides with me?" Penny said, amused at how her daughter likes to reason herself out of anything.
"Why don't you want to come with us to California?" William asked his sister.
"So you wanna go with mom and dad?" Sarah asked her brother.
"Of course!" said the young man. "They're our parents and it's only natural that we'll be with them."
"I still don't want to go." Sarah said defiantly, amusing the adults in the room.
"I guess she got that from Penny huh?" Howard asked Leonard.
"Oh yeah." Leonard said Making Penny glare at him. He then turned back to his daughter. "Honey, we can't just leave you behind, you have no choice but to come with us."
"But I don't want to go! Tell me one good reason for me to come with you." Sarah said, folding her arms and surprising her parents.
William decided to chime in. "You know that mom is from Nebraska right?" he said to his sister.
"So what?" Sarah said.
"Well, grandpa and grandma still live there, right mom?" William said to Penny, trying to get her to play along.
"Yeah, they're still there." said Penny, curious as to where her son is going with this.
William faced his sister. "Do you know that grandpa and grandma has a small farm?" he said.
"Okay." Sarah said.
"Well, do you know that grandpa has all sorts of animals in his farm...like pigs...and goats...some chickens...a couple of horses..." said William making Sarah pay attention to him.
"Really?" Sarah said with her eyes wide open. "Grandpa has a couple of horses?"
"Yeah, maybe more because when we last visited, he was planning to have the mare inseminated. So they may have a couple more in the barn." Penny said, trying to sell the idea to the young princess.
Sarah pouted, not wanting to surrender that easily. "I'm still not going." she said.
Leonard smiled and faced his son. "Okay, I guess it's just you, me and your mom that's going to visit Disneyland huh?" he said making Sarah agitated.
"Disneyland? You're going to Disneyland?" Sarah asked.
Raj decided to chime in, amused by the young girl. "Sarah, Disneyland is in California. You know...Cinderella...Snow White...Elsa and Anna...and Olaf..." he said.
Sarah kept quiet, knowing that she wanted to go to Disneyland for the longest time. "Can I wear a princess dress when we go there?" she asked, still defiant of her father.
Leonard laughed. "Honey, you can wear any princess dress you want!" he said.
"I'm gonna be Elsa!" said Sarah.
"Okay honey. You'll be Elsa." said Leonard.
"And I get to eat all the popcorn and candy there." Sarah added.
"Fine." Leonard said. "Now go and help you mom in the kitchen." he said while putting his daughter down.
"Come on sweetheart. Let's finish up on the kitchen." she said as William chose to follow his mother.
"Is it true Leonard? You and Penny have decided to go back to California?" asked Sheldon.
"Yes Sheldon. My wife and I kinda talked about it and we decided that maybe it's time for us to go back." said Leonard as his friends went and hugged their friend, happy in hearing his decision to go back home.
"I'm glad to hear it Leonard." said Howard.
"Me too. At least we'll all be there for comic book night, or when a new Avengers movie comes out..." said Raj.
"That sounds great Raj...just like old times." Said Leonard.
"Can we ask what's in the letter?" asked Sheldon.
"Well, they said that if I ever decide to come back, they're gonna cover all our moving expenses including the plane tickets and courier services for all our stuff." said Leonard.
"What about your company here?" asked Howard. "Isn't your partner gonna have a hard time if you leave him?"
"We kinda talked about it before and I'm sure he'd understand if I decide to leave everything to him." said Leonard. "I mean, he knows that me and Penny are eventually gonna have to go back home. It was just a matter of time I guess." he added.
"We're gonna wait for you there buddy." said Sheldon while giving Leonard a hug.
"I'm sure you will buddy." said Leonard.
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The guys stayed for dinner, spending one last night with Leonard and his family before they went back to California.
"Thanks for coming guys. It really means a lot." Leonard said while shaking his friends' hands.
"We're gonna miss you Leonard." Sheldon said.
"Are you sure you don't want me to drop you off the airport?" said Leonard.
"Don't bother Leonard, the hotel is gonna drop us off the airport." said Raj.
"I guess I would see you guys soon huh?" Leonard said.
"Yeah." said Howard before facing his kids and Penny. "Bye guys. Thanks for having us."
"You're welcome." said Penny. "Kids, why don't you say good bye to your uncles?"
"Bye uncle Sheldon, bye uncle Howard, bye uncle Raj!" Sarah said, waving her hands at them.
"I guess we'll see you in California soon huh?" Sheldon said to the young lady.
"I guess." said Sarah.
Howard shook William's hand. "Bye William. I'll show my lab when you get there okay?"
"Thanks uncle Howard." said William.
"Thanks for having us Penny." said Sheldon.
"I guess we'll see you soon in California huh?" said Penny as the guys waved goodbye to the young family, going back to their hotel to prepare for their flight back to California the next day.
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Later that night, the couple went to put Sarah to bed after tucking in their son. Penny leaned over and kissed the young princess goodnight.
"You sleep tight sweetheart." said Penny while pulling the covers over Sarah.
"Mommy, are you really gonna take me and William to Disneyland?" asked Sarah, making the couple laugh.
"Of course! what makes you think we won't take you there?" said Leonard.
"Nothing. I just thought you were only saying that so I would go with you to California." said Sarah.
Penny smiled. "Sweetheart listen to me, we are a family. You...me...your dad...your brother...Buster...and wherever we are, as long as we're together, that is our home. Do you understand?" said Penny.
Sarah nodded. "I do mommy." she said. "When are we going to California?"
"I'm not sure yet honey. But we're gonna make sure that it's going to be as smooth as possible. Okay?" Leonard said.
"Okay daddy." said Sarah as Penny gave the child her stuffed bear.
"Good, now go to sleep." Penny said, kissing her daughter again.
"I love you mommy...I love you daddy." Sarah said before closing her eyes.
"We love you too honey." said Leonard while kissing his daughter before standing up and turning off the lights, making sure his daughter was snug as a bug.