A/N I'm still struggling with the pain. However, I did get two first draft chapters completed. 57 finished, 58 finished, and I'm halfway done with 59, so I may be four ahead by the end of the weekend. I hope to add another 2 or 3 this coming week, and while I won't be at ten ahead like I like to be, I'll be more comfortable with the six or seven I should have.
I think I've said this before, but the price for the house is quite close to the actual prices in the Altadena area. I realize that may not sound right to those who live outside of the LA area. The final price for the house I've modeled Leonard and Penny's on will be the actual price it sold for last year.
And, as always, enjoy.
Chapter 55
Wednesday 08 April 6:45 PM
The guys arrived at Howard and Bernadette's after picking up dinner. They put the food in the dining area, and everyone made up their own plate. Leonard helped Bernadette with the kids, which Penny noted, and then everyone moved to the living room to eat. Penny mentioned actually doing the DM job, while Raj explained his liaison duties, between Caltech and Griffith. Leonard explained about starting the analysis of the data and Amy told everyone about her two grad students settling in. Bernadette added that she would soon be on her own as the lead scientist, or more properly, the VP of Pharmaceutical Development.
After dinner, Sheldon started complaining about the situation with Amy and the lack of room, but Amy shushed him. Most of the group looked puzzled, but Leonard and Penny simply looked at each other and hid their smiles. Howard explained about starting his work on his Ph.D. and his one class was a class on metal structures and fracturing. He had had a similar one for his masters, but this went more into the atomic level. He also said it was humorous, in a way, because he had to teach his instructor, what he, Howard, had found about radiation fatigue in a vacuum.
His second class was going to be nothing more than working on his research and the instructor had told Howard to meet with him once a week. This would be to go over what he had done during the week and if he had questions. Although he told Howard to just contact him anytime if he had a question.
By 9 PM, everyone started getting ready to leave, Leonard and Howard were talking about his research, so Penny, remembering Leonard helped with the feeding, went with Bernadette to get the kids upstairs and into bed. Leonard and Penny were the last couple to leave, and they said their goodbyes at the door. They had parked in front of the house they had looked at and were now looking toward it as they left.
Thursday 09 April 9:45 AM
Leonard wasn't looking forward to talking to Sheldon, mostly because he wasn't quite sure what he was going to say. He had to try and persuade Sheldon to speak nicely to the group at Brookhaven, even though Sheldon didn't think too much of that particular group. It was difficult enough to get him to go, but to include his being nice, that was really going to be a task. But, he had told Eric that he would try, so he was going down to Sheldon's office to talk to him.
Leonard walked into Sheldon's office and Sheldon was looking at some equations on his whiteboard, with his back to Leonard. Leonard smiled and feeling playful, knocked on the door three times and said, "Sheldon." He then did it two more times, even after Sheldon had turned around.
Sheldon looked at Leonard with disdain and said, "Leonard, it doesn't work for you. You don't have the history with that. What did you want to talk about?"
"I'm here to talk to you about your trip to Brookhaven," said Leonard.
"Yes, a pilgrimage to the second tier of particle accelerators," said Sheldon with disdain.
"There, that's your problem," said Leonard. "Insulting people who are trying to help you."
"What do you mean, trying to help me?" said Sheldon.
"Sheldon, you need more experimental evidence for your theory, right?" said Leonard.
"Yes, but what does that have…"
"Sheldon, these places you are going to are the places that will be trying to find evidence for you," said Leonard. "You've already pissed off Fermilab, and Dr. Gablehauser had to mollify them to work with you again. How much effort do you think Brookhaven will put into finding that evidence, or will they even bother to try, if you are insulting to them?"
"But, I'm not insult…"
"Not only that, but now you are trying to include gravity in your equations. You are the one that will have to help design new experiments, so they know what to look for. If you keep insulting them, they won't want to work with you, and your ideas won't ever get experimental data that's needed to show you're moving in the right direction."
"Leonard, I don't mean to be insulting," said Sheldon. "I'm just being honest with them."
"Sheldon, how many times, in the last five years, have we told you about being insulting?" asked Leonard.
Sheldon thought for a few seconds, "Including this one, 153."
Leonard dropped his head, shaking it. "Remember what Amy said to you in Sweden," said Leonard. "About how you pissed us off, even though you didn't mean it?"
"Yes, I do," said Sheldon. "But, I don't see what that…ohhhhhhhhhh." Sheldon paused for a few seconds, then said, "So they see, what I think is an attempt at honesty, as being insulting."
"Yes, they do," said Leonard. "See we get upset, but most of the time we let it go because we know you don't mean it, having been around you so much. But, the people in these organizations don't know you the way we do, so they think your attempt to be, what you think is being honest, as being condescending or insulting."
"What am I supposed to do, lie?" asked Sheldon.
"Well, not lie," said Leonard. "Just don't be brutally honest with them."
"How am I supposed to do that?"
"If I were you, I would ask Amy," said Leonard. "She's had a lot of practice."
"What do you mean, a lot of practice," said Sheldon.
"Do you remember the time you mentioned you didn't want her to have to walk on eggs around you?"
"Yes."
"That, there," said Leonard. "She hadn't been brutally honest with you, for a long time, just so you wouldn't get upset."
"Well, it might not be the best time," said Sheldon.
"What do you mean?" asked Leonard.
"Amy and I have been disagreeing a lot," said Sheldon. "I need more space to work on my theory at home, but she won't let me have the space I need, claiming she needs room also."
"Sheldon, we went over this a couple of weeks ago," said Leonard. "You have to give her space also."
"But…"
"No buts, Sheldon," said Leonard. "You have to give her space, and you will have to work with and be nice to, the people at these other facilities if you want them to help you gather the data you need to support your ideas."
"But…"
"No Sheldon, you will have to find a way to work it out, for both Amy and these places that you visit," said Leonard. "That's just the way it is."
"Drat."
"I'll see you later," said Leonard. "I would suggest you talk to Amy, for both things." With that Leonard turned and left.
Sheldon watched him leave, then stared down at his equations, but he was thinking about what Leonard had said.
Thursday 09 April 5:45 PM
Patsy was explaining to Leonard and Penny the real estate market in Altadena. How the houses were selling for less than what Zillow showed, how she had looked into house prices for the neighborhood the house was in, and several other things. She then showed them an offer sheet she would bring to Andy.
They looked at the sheet, "$900,000," said Leonard questionably. "He said he was thinking 1.2 million, so this seems kind of low."
"He got his information from Zillow, right?" said Patsy.
"Yes."
"Well, as I told you, they aren't always right," said Patsy. "I looked at the sales prices of similar houses in the area, and two in the same neighborhood, and I think this offer is a good place to start."
"But, what if he doesn't accept, or is willing to negotiate?" asked Penny.
"Then we keep looking," said Patsy. "See, unless he has several offers, and the house has been up for only a week or so, he won't turn it down. What's most likely is he will come down on his demand, hoping we'll increase our offer."
"But, we like the house," said Penny.
"And, you should get it," said Patsy. "I'm supposed to get you the house as inexpensively as I can. We can always go up if he doesn't agree."
"Is there anything we can do now?" asked Leonard.
"No, not really," said Patsy. "Until we have an accepted offer, all I can do is some preliminary work. Once we have an accepted offer, then there is a lot to do. One thing I do need, is who should I call if we need to get a fast approval on an offer?"
"What do you mean," said Leonard.
"For instance, let say he comes down on the price," said Patsy. "He's asking 1.2, but let say he comes down to one million, and but it's only good for 24 hours, and we want to go up. Who do I call to get the fast approval without having to go back and forth?"
"I would say, Leonard," said Penny. "I trust him to make the right decision."
"Great, this could help," said Patsy. "I've seen deals go bad because one side or the other couldn't get in touch with someone."
"Will I be able to ask you as far as what you think we should do?" asked Leonard.
"Yes, you should," said Patsy. "But, in the end, it's going to be your call. Just remember, I'm working for you, to try and get the best deal for you."
"Okay, good," said Leonard. "As long as I can lean on you for advice, you can call me and I'll talk to Penny."
"Okay, I'll send over the offer this afternoon, and I'll call you when I hear anything," said Patsy. "For now, I think we're done."
Leonard and Penny rose and left the real estate office, they were going out for dinner tonight, before going home.
Friday 10 April 3:00 PM
Leonard was going over the plan for the next analysis of the first run when his cell rang. He answered and was surprised to hear Patsy, "We got an answer back from him, Leonard," she said. "He's willing to drop it to 1.1 million."
"Should we accept it?" asked Leonard.
"I don't think so," said Patsy. "I would suggest that we raise our bid to $950,000, and see where it goes from there. We were $300,000 apart when we started, and if we increase it by $50,000, we'll be $200,000 apart. Going up by $50,000 indicates we want the house but aren't going to pay what he wants us to pay. It does sound like he's not getting any offers."
"Okay, if that's what you think, let's do that," said Leonard.
"I probably won't be able to send it to him until Monday, so we won't hear back from him until next week," said Patsy. "So, be prepared for that."
Leonard said, "That's fine, do you have anything else?"
"I'll say this; if he comes back with one million, would you be willing to accept that?" asked Patsy. "Just asking now, so I don't have to call."
"I'll say yes to that, for now," said Leonard. "I'll talk to Penny and get her opinion. If you don't hear from me, just assume that one million would be fine."
"Okay, that will work," said Patsy. "I'll give you a call when I hear something."
"Thanks, Patsy, I'll wait for your call," said Leonard.
They both disconnected.
Friday 10 April 9:00 PM
Penny was already yawning, as they watched TV. She had been tired all week and starting the job as DM didn't help. Between work and studying the management book, she was planning on taking the weekend off, except for dinner with Sheldon and Amy the next night. They had gone out for dinner and talked about the counter-offer, and their counter-offer and Penny agreed that going up to one million would be fine. Leonard had mentioned he thought Patsy knew what she was doing, and he was going to follow her advice.
By 9:30 Penny was ready for bed, so they turned off the TV, the lights, and locked the door. They had done their preparations, changed their clothes, and gotten into bed. Leonard put his arm over Penny, and started kissing just behind her ear, before whispering, "How about some sex?"
Penny said, "No, Leonard, I'm tired."
Leonard grinned in the dark and said, "I can get you started."
Penny replied flatly, "No, Leonard, I told you, I'm tired. I don't want to risk falling asleep in the middle of foreplay, and you giving me grief about it."
"I wouldn't do that," said Leonard.
"Yes, you would, and have," said Penny. "I even told Priya not to fall asleep during, because she would never hear the end of it. So, no, no sex tonight. Behave yourself, and we'll have some tomorrow, possibly in the afternoon."
Leonard knew when he was beaten, so he just kissed her neck and said, "Okay, I love you, goodnight."
Penny hugged his arm, and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound bitchy. I'm just tired and grouchy and I just want to get to sleep. I love you, too, goodnight.
Saturday 11 April 6:00 PM
Penny and Leonard had everything set out for dinner. They had asked Sheldon and Amy to come over because they wanted to mention that they might be considering moving, so they could judge how badly Sheldon would take it. The phone rang, and it was the delivery guy, bring the food. When the guy got to the door, Penny called Amy, while Leonard paid for the food. As Leonard was setting the food on the coffee table, he could hear Sheldon and Amy coming in.
They spent dinner time talking about Leonard's tests, and Sheldon's planned trip to Brookhaven. Although he had shown Eric, Leonard asked if Sheldon would look over Leonard's idea about increasing the number of entangled photons, and Sheldon agreed. Amy asked Penny how her first week as DM had gone, and Penny said she and her boss were happy about it. Then Penny asked Amy about her progress with planning her research, with Amy saying it was proceeding well. They finished eating and cleaned up before all four of them returning to the living room.
Penny, to get things started said, "So, how are things working out with the work situation in the apartment."
Amy looked at Sheldon and said, "We're still arguing about it."
"So, you don't have a solution, yet?" said Leonard.
"Not really, Amy doesn't understand the space I need," said Sheldon.
"Don't start Sheldon," said Amy. "We can talk about it some more when we get home."
"Well, we're having trouble too," said Leonard, pointing towards Sheldon's old room. "The kid stuff doesn't all fit in the room."
"What are you going to do?" asked Amy.
"We don't know," said Penny. "Having two of everything makes it hard to find the room."
"And, Caltech won't take kids until they are six months old," said Leonard. "We may have to find room for a nanny, for two months, after Penny goes back to work, and we don't have any place for something like that."
"It appears that you may have to find a place with more room," said Amy.
Leonard and Penny didn't say anything but did exchange glances. Sheldon caught on to that right away.
"Are you thinking of moving?" said Sheldon, sounding perturbed.
"Well…" started Leonard.
"You can't do that," said Sheldon. "I told you three years ago that eventually, you'd want more space, and you'll move into a house, and then instead of dinner a couple of times a week, it'll only be a couple of times a month, before it would go to never, and here we are."
"Buddy, if you remember, you and Amy were broken up, at the time," said Leonard. "Now you have Amy and we're still having dinner a couple of times a week."
"But if you leave, what then?" said Sheldon, his voice rising. "It would only be a couple of times a month."
"But, Sheldon, we're having twins, we need to find more room," said Penny. "And, right now, it doesn't look like this apartment is going to have enough room for twins."
"I don't have to sit here and listen to how my best friend is going to abandon me," said Sheldon. "If you want to move, move. But, I don't have to listen to your excuses."
Sheldon jumped up and walked to the door before turning and saying, "And, you can forget about me looking at your plans." Which that he turned and left. Amy hadn't said anything during the exchange between Leonard and Penny, and Sheldon.
Penny turned to her and said, "Amy, we need space, were going to have to move, will you help us with him?"
"I don't know if I can," said Amy. "I mean, I'll try, as long as you don't tell him I'm working with you. But, I'm going to worry about it myself.
"Amy, please," said Penny.
"Penny, if you're not across the hall, I can't simply run over here, and I think we'll grow apart. You'll be busy with the babies, and you'll forget about me. You'll be over at Bernadette's all the time, talking to her, because she and Howard have kids."
Penny and Leonard exchanged glances, but Amy missed it. Penny said, "Amy, I won't forget about you."
Amy ignored it and said, "I'd better go and see how Sheldon is doing." She walked toward the door and turned, "I will try to get him to see why you have to, I really do understand. But, remember, it's going to be tough on me also." She turned quickly and left, closing the door behind her.
Penny sadly looked at Leonard and said, "Now I feel bad, what are we going to do?"
In the hallway, outside the door to 4B, Amy had tears streaming down her face, the tears she had kept Penny from seeing. She was silent and trying to wipe her face and eyes, to keep Sheldon from seeing them. It was a few minutes before she felt ready to enter her own apartment.