Chapter 75
"You guys are early today?" Leonard said as he cradled William by the window.
"Well Amy wanted to try out this new place for us to have breakfast so she's picking us up in ten minutes." Penny said as she and Sarah came out into the living room.
"Okay...you girls have fun!" Leonard said, earning a kiss from his wife. William reached out and tried to hug her mother.
"Come to mommy! Ugh...you be a good boy okay...me and your sister are gonna be out all day." she said, showering William with hugs and kisses, making him explode with laughter. "Mommy loves you so much!" she said.
"Okay I'm ready!" Sarah said, reaching out to kiss her baby brother. "Don't fall for their nerd traps okay?" she said to her brother, clearly teasing Leonard.
"Okay...I'm gonna distract him so you guys can get out of here." said Leonard, knowing that his son might cry when he sees his mother going away. "Come on buddy, let's hope the birds are still out there...look!" he said, pointing by the window while Penny and Sarah slowly opened the door and quietly stepped out, feeling relieved that the baby didn't notice them leaving.
"Come on sweetheart, your aunt Amy is already parked up front waiting for us." she said, putting her phone back in her pocket.
"Do you think dad can handle William by himself?" Sarah asked.
"Hey...if I can handle it then he should have no problem with it." said Penny as they exit the building, seeing Amy waiting for them in her car with Bernadette in the front seat. They got in the back, greeting the two before Amy started the car and drove away to have breakfast.
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Back in the apartment...
Leonard looked back and saw the coast was already clear, relieved that his son didn't notice his mommy and sister leaving. "Okay buddy, let's see what's on today." he said, taking the remote and turning the TV on to look for a good show to watch. "Look...The Return of the King!...this is a good one." he said as he sat down, putting William on his lap who was clutching a small toy in his hand.
William suddenly screamed, crying his eyes out. "What is it buddy? Are you hungry?" he asked when he noticed the TV showing the scenes of Frodo, Sam and Sméagol. "Aww...are you scared of Sméagol?" he said, laughing a bit. "Yeah...he is a scary guy huh...okay let's look for something that won't give you nightmares..." he said while consoling his son and looking for another show on the TV.
"Oh...you'll like this one...look, it's the Avengers..." he said, turning his son around after wiping off his baby's tears. William sat quietly and looked at the TV, trying to process what he has seeing. "See...that one is Thor...and Captain America...Black Widow...the Hulk..." he said while pointing at the TV.
The baby screamed again, frightened when he saw the Hulk grunting and screaming at the alien enemies on the screen. Leonard laughed and quickly switched the channel while consoling his son. "Sorry about that buddy...no more scary movies...I promise." said Leonard, kissing his son to calm him down. "Do you want to take a bath?" he said, making William laugh. "Okay, let's get some warm water going so you could play with your rubber duckies..." he said, standing up and going straight to the bathroom to get some water in the tub, feeling it for the right temperature. William reached out to touch the water, giggling and laughing as he played with the stream.
"Okay, I think that's warm enough...let me get the towel and shampoo ready." he said, reaching out to get the towel from the rack and shampoo from the shelf. He then started taking off the baby's diaper and clothes before slowly sitting him down in the tub. William slightly flinched when he felt the lukewarm water touching his feet and butt, making Leonard laugh at how adorable his son was. "Are you alright?" he asked as William looked at him and smiled, splashing the water around with his hands as Leonard took a small drop of shampoo and applied it on his head and body, gently massaging the baby as he amused himself with the water around him.
"Feels good huh?" said Leonard, happy in seeing how active and jolly his son was as he splashed the water with his hands, laughing and giggling whenever the water hits his face.
After getting his son cleaned up, Leonard took the shower head to rinse his son. "Okay buddy, I want you to close your eyes..." he said as he slowly rinsed his head with the water from the handheld shower. William was startled but slowly settled when the water gently rinsed over him, holding onto his father's arm as Leonard made sure no soap or bubbles were left on his head and body.
After rinsing off, Leonard wrapped the baby with the towel, bringing him out of the bathroom to get him dressed. "Okay buddy, let's get you dressed...and fed so you could take a nap." he said as he laid the baby in his crib.
William laughed, amused by his father. "You really get excited when it comes to food huh? Just like your mommy!" he said, laughing along with his son when he heard a knock on the door. "It's open!" he yelled when Sheldon, Howard and Raj came in. "Hey guys! "I'm just getting this young man dressed." he said as the three went near them, looking at the baby on his crib. William saw his uncles and laughed while Leonard took the towel off before putting some talcum powder all over his body.
"Hey William, you smell so nice!" Howard said, playing with his hands.
"Yeah...so squeaky clean!" Raj added, making funny faces to amuse the baby.
"Leonard." Sheldon said.
"Yes?" said Leonard while starting to put on the baby's clothes.
"Did you invite us here so we could have the whole day doing what we love like playing video games and watching movies or did you lure us here so you'll have someone to help you out in watching over your son?" said Sheldon.
Leonard sighed and faced his best friend. "Okay I'm not gonna lie...it's true that I invited you over so I could have some help in watching over William but if you don't want to do it then it's totally fine with me Sheldon. It's my job to take care of my child and you don't have to do anything." he said, going back to dressing the baby. "Okay buddy, let's get you fed so you could take a nap." he added.
"You need any help dude?" Raj asked.
"Uh yeah...can you warm up his milk bottle from the fridge?" said Leonard.
Raj went to the fridge and found several bottles of Penny's stored milk. "Which one do I choose?" asked Raj.
"Well we still have milk from yesterday so it should be good, just look for the mark on the bottle." said Leonard as he carried the baby in his arms while Howard looked for a good movie in the TV.
"Do you guys want ta watch a movie or play a video game?" asked Howard.
"You guys decide, just keep the volume low." he said as Raj put some warm water in a bowl before putting the milk bottle on it to warm it up.
"No problem Leonard." said Howard.
After a few minutes, Raj took the milk bottle and put a few drops on his hand to see if it's warm enough. "I think it's good." he said, handing the milk bottle to Leonard.
"Thanks Raj...come on buddy, let's get you on the crib...time for your nap." he said as he laid his son down, giving him the milk bottle. William took the bottle in his hands and quickly put it on his mouth, satisfying his hunger. "That's my boy...you just take a nap so daddy can have a shower okay?" he said, making the baby smile as his eyes become a little droopy, slowly drifting off to sleep.
After a few minutes, Leonard pulled the baby blanket and covered his son, letting him sleep before joining the guys. "Can you watch over him while I take a bath?" he asked.
"Sure dude." said Raj.
"Thanks...I won't take long." Leonard said, before going to the bathroom to take a quick shower.
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Meanwhile, somewhere in a restaurant in Pasadena where the girls are having breakfast...
"Mom." Sarah said.
"Yeah?" Penny said while putting some cream and a sugar cube on her coffee.
"What do you think are they doing in the apartment now?" asked the young lady, making them laugh.
"I won't be surprised if they're bumping heads while watching over your brother!" said Penny.
"Yeah...just like a bunch of Neanderthals discovering fire for the first time..." said Bernadette, making them all laugh.
"Good one Bernadette!" Amy said, toasting her cup of coffee with her. "Sheldon was quite adamant when he told me that he won't touch anything that comes out of the baby, especially the one that ends up in William's diaper." she said, making them all laugh.
"Gee, I wish I could see the look on uncle Sheldon's face when that happens." Sarah said.
"Don't worry, I told Howie to get it on video, just in case." said Bernadette.
"Where are we going after this? The salon?...the mall?" asked Amy.
"I was thinking of getting our nails done!" Penny said.
"That sounds like fun...do you a know a good nail salon around here?" asked Bernadette.
"Well I used to go to this place that's pretty cheap but did a good service." said Penny.
"Okay let's go there after this." said Amy.
"Alright...but I have to warn you that it's in this basement underneath an Asian restaurant that I'm sure is where a few illegal immigrants are hiding out." said Penny, surprising the other girls.
"I don't know...that sounds kinda dangerous." Amy said.
"Aww come on, what will the cops do to us anyways? Throw us in jail for making our nails pretty?" Penny asked.
"I'm in!" Sarah said, surprising them.
"Me too!" said Bernadette.
"Amy?" asked Penny.
"Oh okay let's do it!" Amy said. "What's life without a little risk!" she said.
After breakfast, the girls went to the underground nail salon that Penny told them about. One of the waitresses in the restaurant recognized Penny and led her and the girls towards the basement, telling them not to worry. "Come on sweetheart, don't be afraid." said Penny as they navigate a narrow hallway, finally reaching the 'salon' where a few Asian women are sitting down, waiting for customers which in this case was Penny and the girls.
An older lady welcomed them in. "Come in, come in...you ladies make yourself at home okay? We make your nails look beautiful, whatever you want okay!?" she said in her simple Asian-accent English.
"Thanks...this is my daughter and my friends and we just want to get our nails done." said Penny as a few other girls led them to sit down.
"This place looks cozy." said Amy, looking around the makeshift salon.
"No problem...we make your nails look good...you want a pedicure too?" asked one of the Asian girls.
"Yeah sure." Penny said.
"Hi baby girl...you're so cute! Don't worry, we make your nails pretty okay?" said another. "My name is Mi Ha...your name is?" asked Mi Ha.
"I'm Sarah...nice to meet you Ms. Mi Ha." she said.
Mi Ha smiled at her. "Nice meet you too Sarah!" said Mi Ha as she started doing the young girl's nails, gently massaging her hands.
"My name is Ling." said the girl attending to Amy.
"Oh hi...I'm Amy...nice to meet you Ling!" she said. "This is my friend Bernadette." she added.
"Hi Ms. Bernadette! Her name Minti...but she no speak good English." said Ling. "But no worry...you tell me what you want and I tell her...okay?" she added.
"Okay...got it." said Bernadette, giving Minti a weak smile. Minti smiled back at Bernadette, bowing slightly before going back to work on her hands.
The girls sat back and relaxed on their sofas as each attendant did their mani and pedi, making sure they are doing a good job.
"Ms. Mi Ha can I ask you a question?" asked Sarah.
"Yes baby...what you want to know?" said Mi Ha, smiling at her.
"Do you mind if I ask where you are from?" asked the young lady.
"Oh...well me and them come from Vietnam." said Mi Ha. "We come here because no work at home." she added.
"And you always did mani and pedi back in Vietnam?" asked Sarah.
"Yes...and hair and make-up too...you know for weddings...birthdays..." Mi Ha said.
"What about your family? Are they here with you?" Sarah asked.
Mi Ha gave her a weak smile. "Well... my mother already dead and my father sick in Vietnam, that's why I send him money so he can buy medicine." Mi Ha said.
"I'm sorry." said Sarah, slightly regretting that she asked her.
"No problem baby girl...don't say sorry." said Mi Ha. "It's okay."
Penny reached over and touched her daughter's hand. "It's alright sweetheart." she said.
"Your mommy right...don't worry." added Mi Ha. "Now...what color you want?" she asked showing Sarah her assorted nail polish.
Sarah looked over, trying to pick out a good color. "Uh, can you do a horse on my thumb?" she asked.
"Horse? You have horse pet?" asked Mi Ha.
"No...but my mom and dad always brings me to this ranch so I could ride." said Sarah, borrowing Penny's phone to show her a picture. "Look." she said, showing the picture to Mi Ha.
"Wow! So good!" Mi Ha exclaimed. "You can make horse run and jump?" she asked.
"No...only walking...my mom doesn't want me to fall off and get hurt or something." said Sarah.
"Okay...I try to do horse for you!" Mi Ha said as she started painting the young lady's nails.
After almost half an hour, the girls came out of the nail 'salon', happy with how their mani and pedi turned out.
"Did you have fun sweetheart?" asked Penny.
"I did mom...look, Ms. Mi Ha really nailed the horse down!" Sarah said, showing her nails to Penny.
"That so nice sweetie...I'm glad you had fun." said Penny as Amy and Bernadette compared their manicures, giggling at how pretty their nails are.
"So...where do we go from here?" Amy asked.
"Let's just go to the mall and walk around." Bernadette said.
"Okay...sounds good." said Penny as they got into the car before Amy drove off, joining the traffic on the road.
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Meanwhile, back in the apartment.
"Sheldon, you can't expect a six-month old baby to understand what you're gonna say." said Leonard.
"He's right dude...it would be a miracle if you could get his attention in the first place." Raj added as Sheldon sets up the whiteboard and markers.
"You said you wanted us to keep your son occupied...so here I am doing what I do best." said Sheldon.
Leonard sighed. "Fine...fire away professor Cooper!" he said as he kept William firmly seated on his lap.
"What are you doing Howard?" asked Sheldon.
"I'm recording this just in case." Howard said as he set-up the camera on the tripod.
"Fine, just make sure the light doesn't make me look weird or strange." said Sheldon, making Leonard laugh.
"Sheldon, you are weird and strange!" said Leonard with Howard and Raj nodding in agreement.
"Okay fine...just make sure your son pays attention." Sheldon said as he faced the camera. "Hello, today we're gonna embark on a great experiment as I try to teach a six-month old baby boy the basic principles of physics. My colleagues don't believe this would work but I'd like to prove them wrong with my Texan heritage mixed with a can-do attitude." he said as he faced William. "William...what is physics?" Sheldon asked as the baby looked at him, recognizing his name when Sheldon called him. "Physics is the study of natural phenomena, coming from the ancient Greek word 'physika' that means 'knowledge of nature'". he said.
William suddenly jumped and laughed, surprising Sheldon after he wrote something on the board.
"Keep going Sheldon...I think he likes it." said Leonard.
"Or maybe you look funny to him...you know, like a giant grasshopper or something." said Howard, making Leonard and Raj laugh.
"Okay let's be serious for a moment here!" Sheldon said.
"Yeah...please continue professor!" said Leonard as Sheldon went on with his lecture while William looked on, jumping and laughing from time to time.
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Meanwhile, somewhere inside the mall, Bernadette felt her phone vibrate so she took it to check it out.
"Penny...I think you should see this." said Bernadette, showing them the video of William happily interacting with Sheldon and the guys, teaching him about science and stuff.
Penny took the phone and watched closely:
"Okay baby...I'm gonna give you a chance to choose who invented Calculus...is it Sir Isaac Newton here...or Wilhelm Leibniz..." said Sheldon, showing the baby the printout pictures. William laughed when shown with Leibniz's picture and screamed when he saw Newton's, clearly choosing Leibniz.
Leonard hugged his son, kissing him on the neck. "That's my boy!" he said, making the baby laugh out loud.
"I can't believe those guys would do that to William?" said Amy.
"But it is funny right?" Sarah said, laughing at the video of her baby brother.
Penny felt warm inside, touched by how amazing her son was as she watched the video of his interaction with her husband and their friends.
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It was already eight in the evening when Penny and Sarah entered the apartment, tired and satisfied with their girl's day out.
"We're home!" Penny said, seeing Leonard and William on the couch watching TV. William saw his mother and immediately cried, obviously missing her absence for the whole day. "Aww sweetheart...come to mommy...did you miss me?" she said, taking the baby from her husband and showering him with hugs and kisses. "I missed you so much!" she said as William rested his head on her shoulder.
"How was your day out? Looks like you girls had fun huh?" said Leonard as he pulled Sarah to sit beside him, putting his arm over her shoulder.
"We did dad...look at my nails." Sarah said, showing her hand to her father.
"They look pretty honey...and is this Bunny Rabbit?" Leonard asked, looking closely at her thumb.
"Yeah...I asked the Asian lady to do a horse on my thumb." Sarah said.
"Well I'm glad you had fun with your mom and your aunts." said Leonard, hugging his daughter and kissing her cheek.
"Thanks for letting us do this dad." said Sarah, leaning onto her father.
"Of course honey...we also had fun with your brother...we made Sheldon think that he was able to teach the baby with science." said Leonard.
"Yeah...I can't believe Sheldon didn't notice that Howard and Raj doing wacky poses behind him was the reason for William 'interacting' with him!" said Penny, doing quotation marks with her hand, making them laugh.
"Yeah, Sheldon can be oblivious sometimes, especially if things are going his way." said Leonard laughing along with his girls.
"Well in any case, my son is so amazing!" Penny said, lifting William up in the air, making him scream with laughter.
Sarah stood up. "I'm gonna wash up in the bathroom...I want to go to bed early."
"Okay honey." said Leonard as Penny sat back down beside her husband while cradling the baby on her lap.
"And you...you deserve a reward sailor, for being a good father." Penny said, kissing her husband.
"Hmm...I can't wait." Leonard said, laughing a little.
"Well you earned it." Penny said before giving the baby to her husband. "Make sure he sleeps tight so no one will interrupt us." she said before standing up and going to the bedroom. "I'm gonna take a quick shower after Sarah."
Leonard laughed. "You hear that buddy? You need to sleep tight so your mom and I can do some stuff okay?" he said as he went to the fridge to get the last of Penny's stored milk, heating it up so his son could eat and sleep for the night.
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Meanwhile in Howard and Bernadette's apartment...
"That was really funny what you did with Sheldon and William." said Bernadette, joining Howard on the bed.
"Yeah...he'll be furious once he finds out that me and Raj were just making funny faces behind his back to make William laugh." he said, laughing a little.
Bernadette leaned over and kissed him. "That's why you're the funny one." she said.
"Yeah...makes you kinda excited if the baby was ours huh?" he said, smiling at his wife.
"Yeah..." said Bernadette, giving him an awkward smile.
Howard looked at her, slightly surprised by her reaction. "Bernie...did I say something wrong?" he asked.
"Nothing...let's just go to sleep." said Bernadette as she turned around, pulling the blanket over her.
"Wait...are you saying that you don't want to have children?" asked Howard.
"I'm tired Howie...let's just get some sleep please." she said, not facing him.
Howard took a deep breath. "Oh no Bernie...I'm not gonna let this go!" he said.
Bernadette turned back around to face him. "What do you want me to say?" she asked.
"I want you to tell me the truth!" Howard said, slightly raising his voice.
"Fine...I don't think that I want to have children." said Bernadette. "Every time I look at Penny, it just makes me more convinced that having kids is not for me." she said.
"What are you talking about?" Howard asked.
"Howie please don't be mad...but I'm afraid that if I get pregnant, my career would take a back seat and I would get nowhere and just spend all day taking care of the baby...not to mention getting sick and bloated." said Bernadette. "I'm sorry."
"Well...you just killed my dream of becoming a father so what do you want me to do now!?" he said as he got off the bed and went to the closet.
"What are you doing?" asked Bernadette.
"I'm getting dressed...I need to get out of here." he said as he put on a pair of pants and his shirt.
Bernadette started crying. "Howie please don't go!" she said.
"No Bernie...I need some space...to clear my head!" Howard said as he went out of the bedroom, taking his keys from his desk and going out of the apartment, slamming the door behind him as Bernadette sat on the bed, crying her eyes out, feeling guilty for hurting her husband about not having kids.
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"Dude, what are you doing here?" asked Raj, surprised to see his best friend outside his door at almost ten in the evening when he was about to go to sleep.
"Can I crash here for the night?" said Howard as he stepped inside Raj's apartment.
"Let me guess...you and Bernadette fought huh?" asked Raj.
"Yeah...don't worry, I'll just take the couch." said Howard.
Raj nodded. "Okay..." he said, tapping Howard on his shoulder. "Let me get you a blanket and a pillow."
"Thanks Raj...I'm sorry for crashing here." said Howard.
"Hey don't mention it..." said Raj as he went to his bedroom to get a blanket and pillow for his best friend. He went back to the living room and handed Howard his bedding. "I'm gonna turn in...you can turn off the lights if you want." said Raj.
"Thanks Raj...I appreciate it." Howard said.
"No problem dude." Raj said as he went to his bedroom, closing the door behind him. Howard took off his shoes and went to the wall, flicking off the light switch before getting on the couch to lay down, pulling the blanket over him to get some sleep. He took a deep breath and promised himself that he'll be more calm when he talks to his wife tomorrow.