A/N To be honest, I almost didn't have this ready to publish today. Life has really gotten in the way this week. Besides my pain, my wife has been having problems with her hip, and getting in and out of our truck, which we only bought last year, has been a problem for her. So, I got an email from the dealership I got the truck from, wanting to give me what I thought was a ridiculously high number for a trade-in. It was real, but I checked around and got an even more rediculously high number from another dealership and now have a new vehicle, that my wife can get in and out of, rather easily.
However, I've had to spend the last three days visiting dealerships, and nights looking at vehicles and lease values, not working on this chapter. Here's the kicker; the trade-in value I got today, was the same price as the sticker price on the truck I bought new, a year ago. But, I didn't pay sticker, I paid 6,000 below sticker. So, I got 6,000 more on the trade-in, than I actually paid for the truck a year ago.
Anyway, it was only this morning, when I got the chapter editing, spelling, and grammar check finished, so here it is. Enjoy.
Chapter 56
Sunday 12 April 3:00 PM
Leonard and Penny had gone to Marston's for their usual Sunday brunch, before coming home. They had brought some of their food home and stopped by 4B, before leaving again. But, Sheldon refused to see them, and although Amy did, she was still very unhappy about the prospect of what she thought of as losing her best friend.
After stopping at the apartment, they spent several hours at the farmers market, avoiding the petting zoo, and bought their weekly amount of fruits and vegetables. They tried stopping by 4B again, getting the same reactions as earlier in the day. Amy suggested that when she and Sheldon were ready, they would call or come over.
After putting away their food, Leonard called Penny over to the couch. She walked over but looked questionably at Leonard. They both sat down, then Leonard said, "I think it's time to start thinking about names."
"Yes, Leonard, we should," said Penny. "We have less than four months now, and I don't think you have thought of any names."
"Actually, I have," said Leonard, who then continued. "How do you want to do this?"
"I suggest over the next week, we each come up with a list of names," said Penny. "Say, five or so and then next Sunday, we can go over the list and then the next week, pick out two or three names each, and then the Sunday after, we pick the two names."
Leonard thought about that for a few seconds, "That makes sense, let's go with that. Do you want to go over a few names you think we shouldn't use?"
Penny looked at Leonard, "You mean like Amy, Bernadette, Beverly, Mary, Missy Debbie, Susan, and Lisa?" asked Penny.
"So, no relatives or friends, or friend's relatives, got it," said Leonard.
"Add, Joyce, Antionette, Leslie, Stephanie, Elizabeth, Joy, Priya, Alice, Alexandra, or Mandy," said Penny. "And add, whatever that old Latham woman's first name was."
"You rattled those off like you had them memorized," said Leonard with a grin. "They sound familiar, do I know any of them?"
"Even if you don't have a photographic memory, like Sheldon, you should recognize those names," said Penny, glaring at him. "Unlike you, it appears, I have thought about it. At least those I don't want. I suppose we could add a few more like, Emily, Lucy, Claire, Anu, and Cheryl."
"Okay, okay. But, I will tell you I did have a whole list of names, boy's names, that I didn't want to use. You know, like Kurt, Mike, Dough, Zack, and TJ, but I get the point," said Leonard.
"Who the hell is TJ?" asked Penny.
"He's the guy you didn't talk…" Leonard suddenly remembered TJ wasn't real, he was just someone Leonard had made up while he thought about asking Penny out again. "No one, never mind," said Leonard. "Can we use any names from distant members of our families?"
"What do you mean?" asked Penny.
"I've got a couple of names from distant relatives, I might want to use," said Leonard.
"That's fine, as long as they are distant and I don't know about them," said Penny. "I've got one myself that I may think about using."
"So, we think of names ourselves, narrow it down to five each, and present them to each other next Sunday," said Leonard. "If either of us has a question on a name, until then, we can ask about it, all right?"
"All right," said Penny. "It sounds like we have a plan for the names, at least."
"Now that we have the name thing sorted out, who's making dinner?" said Leonard. Penny just shook her head and pointed at him.
Monday 13 April 10:00 AM
Leonard was looking over the different reports for the data runs when his phone rang. He picked it up and said, "Photon entanglement team, Dr. Hofstadter speaking."
"What?" he heard Patsy ask. "What do you do?"
Leonard chuckled, "That's the project I'm on right now, Photon entanglement."
"Oh, yeah, you work at Caltech," said Patsy. "I forgot about that."
Leonard smiled, "What's going on?"
"I sent the new offer back to the guy this morning," said Patsy. "And, again, all we have to do is wait."
"Oh, okay, thanks," said Leonard. "Any idea how long it could take?"
"It depends on how worried he is about selling his home," said Patsy. "It could be tomorrow, or it could be the end of the week. We just have to wait and see."
"Okay, thanks for letting us know, Patsy," said Leonard.
"That's what you're paying me for," said Patsy with a chuckle. "Er, well, that's what he and I are splitting the commission for."
"Well, let us know when you hear," said Leonard.
"I will," said Patsy. "Since you have financing, I would suggest you start getting your down payment in order."
"Oh, that's a good idea," said Leonard. "We have a doctor's appointment today, I'll call about it tomorrow."
"That should be fine," said Patsy. "Goodbye."
"Bye," said Leonard and then he hung up.
Monday 13 April 1:05 PM
Penny had returned from her pre-visit lab work and was sitting with Leonard, waiting for Dr. Samuels to come and get them. She was a bit nervous, because the nurse had taken her blood pressure three times, and looked concerned. Penny asked her, but the nurse didn't say anything.
Dr. Samuels finally came out and called the two of them back to her office. They sat in their usual chairs and watched Dr. Samuels shuffle through the papers she had. Finally, she said, "we have some good news and some bad news."
"What do you mean?" asked Penny.
"Your hemoglobin is up to 11.8," said Dr. Samuels. "We'll keep you on the regimen you're currently on and check it again in another week. If it's still going up, we may make some changes."
"So what's the bad news?" said Penny.
"Your blood pressure," said Dr. Samuels. "Last week it was borderline high, at 132 over 85, and this week, it's even higher at 136 over 88, and that was the average. That's still not technically high, but it's getting very close to 140 over 90, and one today was over both of those, which is high. So, again, please watch your salt intake, try to get some relaxation in. If it gets any higher, we may have to put you on some blood pressure pills and diuretics, and you don't want to be on diuretics with two kids pushing on your bladder, okay?"
Penny nodded.
"Now, I have some things I want to talk about," said Dr. Samuels. "But, before I do, do you have any questions?"
"Yeah, I do," said Penny. "I see all these pregnant women and their bellies seem to be sticking out way more than mine. Is there something wrong with me, or are my babies just small?"
Dr. Samuels shook her head, "No, not at all. I'm not worried about it, because when you first came in here, you had some really well-developed abs."
"Thank you," said Penny. "I've kept up with the yoga."
"That's good," said Dr. Samuels. "It helps hold your stomach in and is probably why you're not sticking out as far as you think you should. Also, you're on the low side for weight gain, still normal I want you to understand, but with a lower weight, you won't stick out as far."
"Okay, that makes sense," said Penny. "So what do you want to talk about?"
"First, I want to talk about how you're shortly going to feel," said Dr. Samuels. "You brought up your belly not being as big. But remember, one day, you'll wake up and it will feel as if it grew overnight and you'll suddenly realize that you can't walk the same way. Your center of gravity will be shifting all the time, and because of that, your sense of balance won't seem quite right. As a result, you're going to find that walking feels off. I want you to remember this because I want you to be able to support yourself through the rest of your pregnancy. If that means grabbing something to hold onto, so you feel safe as you walk, do it."
"Wow, really?" said Penny.
"Yes, it's important," said Dr. Samuels. "The other thing I want to talk to you about is I'm going to need you to start checking your baby's movements."
"And how do I do that?" asked Penny.
"It's rather simple, actually," said Dr. Samuels. "Get a notebook, and on each line, write the date and time you start. Then, just put a line for each time you feel a kick, punch, or movement and one diagonally for the fifth. When you get to ten, note the time, and write it down."
"It should take less than an hour to get to ten. If you get to ten between one and two hours, have a snack, lie down and rest for a half-hour, and try it again. If you get to two hours and you haven't gotten to ten movements, call us immediately, we need to check on the babies. Does all that make sense to you?"
"Yes, it does," said Penny. "But, that's it?"
"Well, since you're having twins, there is one other thing," said Dr. Samuels. "It could be difficult to tell the movements apart, so I would also like you to keep track of when their movements are most active. Is it after you eat, is it when you are relaxing, are your feet up or down? Those are also the kind of things we want to watch for."
Penny nodded, "Yeah, I can do that."
"Good," said Dr. Samuels. "Now let's get you up on the table and we can do the ultrasound."
They walked over to the table, Penny getting on it, while Dr. Samuels turned the machine on. Penny bared her belly and the doctor put the lubricant on it and started running the wand over her belly. As usual, they could hear both heartbeats, and Dr. Samuels found both of them in basically the same position as last time. One head-down, the other sideways.
As usual, Dr. Samuels left to get some printouts, and Penny cleaned herself off. After a few minutes, Dr. Samuels came back in look at the pictures for a few minutes, and finally said, "They look in fine shape. The lower one is about 14 inches long and about one and a half pounds. The upper one is about 13 inches long, and about one pound, five ounces, so they are both good weights and lengths."
"Is there anything else?" asked Dr. Samuels.
Both Penny and Leonard shook their heads, and Dr. Samuels told them they were done and to make an appointment for next week. They rose and walked out to the receptionist and made an appointment for the next week, and then they both went back to work.
Tuesday 14 April 2:30 PM
Leonard had just gotten back to his office when his cell phone rang. Looking at it, and seeing it was Patsy, he hurriedly accepted the call and said, "Hello, Patsy, some news about the house?"
"Yes, it is, Leonard," said Patsy. "I've got some great news."
"Yeah? What is it?" said Leonard.
"Mr. Ash has accepted the offer of one million dollars," said Patsy. "So, whatever plan you have for getting your down payment together, you better get it started."
"I will, as soon as I get off the phone from telling Penny," said Leonard. "Besides telling her I accepted the offer, I've got to get her approval for telling our financial guy to start the process."
"Okay, good," said Patsy. "I'll let you go then."
"Thanks, Pasty," said Leonard. "I'll call you tomorrow, bye for now."
"You're welcome, bye to you," said Patsy and they both hung up.
Tuesday 14 April 2:45 PM
Penny was working on her quarterly report, although she had to keep calling Dan, as he was the one who had been running the district at the time. She heard Leonard's tone from her cell phone and accepted the call.
"Hi sweety, what's going on," said Penny.
"I just got a call from Patsy, Mr. Ash accepted our offer," said Leonard.
Penny smiled and said, "Really? We're going to get a house?"
"I hope so," said Leonard. "He accepted the offer, and we have financing. What we don't have yet, is our down payment. I just wanted to let you know, in case Bob calls you to get your permission to do what he needs to do with your accounts."
"Oh, of course," said Penny. "Tell him I agree with it."
"I will, but he probably won't accept my say so. He'll need an actual recording of you saying it's okay," said Leonard.
"If he has a question, just have him call me," said Penny.
"I will," said Leonard. "I'll talk to you about it tonight."
"See you then sweety," said Penny. "I love you."
"I love you, too," said Leonard. "See you tonight."
They both disconnected, with Penny going back to work, and Leonard calling their broker.
Tuesday 14 April 7:45 PM
Penny and Leonard had finished eating and were now sitting on the couch. Penny had asked about what Bob had said, but Leonard said to wait until after dinner.
"So, what did Bob say?" asked Penny.
"Okay, I'm not sure I fully understand it," said Leonard. "But he said to call, once everything is completed, and I get all the paperwork if I don't understand what he did. He first talked about taking money out of our 401 retirement account. But there were various penalties or tax requirements that made it difficult."
"So, he said we should look at our savings, our separate stock account, and our other IRA accounts. He said it would be best to leave the 401 untouched, and take out money from the Roth IRA accounts, some money from savings, and sell some of our stocks to get to the $100,000."
"We need that much?" said Penny, sounding shocked.
"He said banks used to require 20% down," said Leonard. "But, that's changed. The credit union may require us to purchase what's called Private Mortgage Insurance. It protects the credit union in case we default on the loan. But, there is a chance we won't have to do it. But, either way, it would be cheaper for us to get the insurance, rather than trying to get another $100,000 to get to 20%."
"He also recommended that we use more of the money in your accounts," said Leonard. "That's because you make more, and should be able to put the money back into your accounts faster."
"So what do we have to do now?" asked Penny.
"Patsy called back and said she was working on all the paperwork for the inspections and house valuations," said Leonard. "So, we again have to wait until she gets everything ready."
Penny nodded, and then looked straight at Leonard. "It looks like we will be buying a house, and moving soon. We have to tell Sheldon and Amy tomorrow night after Howard, Bernadette, and Raj leave."
"Well, that shouldn't be that bad," said Leonard.
Penny shook her head, "Leonard, Sheldon and Amy didn't like the idea of us just thinking about moving. How do you think they are going to react when we tell them we are actually moving?"
Leonard's eye went wide.