A/N I want to address one of the guest reviews. Yes, I will be taking a break after this story, but no, I have not finished this story yet. I am currently writing the first draft of chapter 66.

As for how much longer the story will go, I get about three chapters per outline page and I have three more pages of outline to go. So, I would say this will finish at about chapter 75. However, my long-time readers know that I can't estimate how long my writing will go, for shit. I said something about finishing "Chew Toy" around chapter 47, and it went to 52. Finishing "Broken Threads" at 80, and it went to 87.

In this case, I have one line in the outline that says: June 7-8-9-10, move to new home. Well, 2/3 of Chapter 65 is June 7 and it appears that most of 66 and a lot of 67, if not more, will take up the other three days. So in that case, I got three chapters from one line. So take my guess at finishing this around chapter 75 with a large salt mine. But, it is starting to wind down.

BTW, you will find out the daughters' names in this chapter, and an oblique reference to Kaley, so enjoy.

Chapter 61

Saturday 25 April, 9:30 AM

Leonard had been up for about 30 minutes before Penny came slowly walking out to the kitchen. She was shuffling along, her hair frazzled, and looked extremely tired. Leonard walked over to her, as she was getting her coffee, rubbed her back, and asked, "Rough night?"

"Yeah, I couldn't get comfortable. I've been trying to lay on my side, but that hasn't worked. Laying on my back is next to impossible, as the babies push on my insides. On top of all that, I was alternating between having hot flashes and chills."

"You haven't had these problems before, have you?" asked Leonard.

"Yeah, I did, early in the pregnancy," said Penny. "I looked it up and my hormones, now, are as active as they were at the beginning, just differently. Which is why I'm getting the chills and hot flashes that are keeping me awake."

Penny took a long drink of her coffee. I'm going to break my rule today, I'm having two cups, she was thinking as she got her yogurt and fresh fruit ready for her breakfast.

They were quiet during breakfast, the only conversation was Leonard asking Penny if she had her names for the next day. Penny just looked at Leonard before nodding and taking another drink of her coffee. While Penny ate, Leonard had his cereal and when they were done, they cleaned up, and they both got ready before leaving for the farmers market.

As they were walking down the stairs, they met Amy. Penny figured she was coming back from the store, as she was carrying several bags. She glared at Penny and continued up the stairs, without saying anything. Penny looked sadly at Leonard as they continued down the stairs.

Saturday 25 April, 2:00 PM

They had had lunch at the farmers market, and after returning, they had put their fruits and vegetables away. Penny was sitting on the couch, with a sad, faraway look on her face. Leonard went over and sat down next to her.

"Why don't you go over and talk to her?" said Leonard.

"I don't know if she wants to talk to me," said Penny.

"Well, you won't know unless you try," said Leonard. "Just go over, and see."

Penny sat there for a few moments, and finally got up and left. Leonard went over and turned on his computer and started pulling up his work files when he heard a rather frantic knocking and calling of his name. Knock, knock, knock, "Leonard." Knock, knock, knock, "Leonard."

"Come in Sheldon," said Leonard.

There was a pause, and then a softer knock, knock, knock, "Leonard," before the door opened and Sheldon walked in. "What are you doing here?" asked Leonard.

"Amy and Penny were arguing," said Sheldon. "And, their voices were getting louder. So, I left before they started yelling at each other."

And, right on cue, Leonard could hear Amy and Penny yelling at each other. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but he could hear their voices raised, in what appeared to be anger.

Suddenly it went quiet, and a few seconds later, the door opened violently, and Penny with an angry look on her face came racing in, slamming the door behind her. "I am never going to sp…" she started, angrily, before seeing Sheldon and stopping. She paused for a second then said coldly, "Sheldon, if you don't want to hear me complain about your wife, you might want to leave."

Sheldon quickly turned and left, but before Penny could say anything, Leonard led her to the couch and had her sit down.

"Don't say anything," said Leonard. "Just take a few deep breaths. Your blood pressure is high and getting upset isn't good for that or the babies. Before you say anything, you need to calm down."

Penny looked like she wanted to say something, but Leonard held his forefinger up, and Penny stopped. She took several deep breaths, then sighed. She waited for a few more minutes before starting.

"I'm sorry Leonard, but it makes me so mad," said Penny. "Accusing me of intentionally moving next to Howard and Bernadette, so I could be closer to Bernadette, making it easier for me to abandon her."

Leonard thought for a few seconds then said, "I think she is just upset by the situation and is lashing out at the person involved in the situation. When she cools down, she'll think about it and she will work through it. But, for now, we're going to have to be the bigger people and try to understand why they are feeling the way they do."

Penny looked down and shook her head. "You're right, I understand why she might think I'm abandoning her, but it doesn't make me feel better."

"I'm thinking I may have to go over and talk to her," said Leonard. "But, I don't think it will be today."

"Yeah, today might not be such a good time," said Penny. "We were pretty angry with each other."

"I know, I could hear you both yelling from here," said Leonard. "I couldn't make it out, but I could make out the yelling."

"Yeah, she was upset because of where we were going, not why," said Penny. "She accused us of intentionally abandoning her and Sheldon. So, I started yelling back that I wasn't, we were doing it for the babies and I think the yelling pissed her off because she started yelling back at me. Then, it just all fell apart, and all we were doing was just screaming at each other."

"Penny, I'm so sorry I told you to go over there," said Leonard. "You didn't need to get upset, that's my fault. Which is why I'll talk to her next, but tomorrow, not today."

"Okay, yeah, that's probably best," said Penny. "Leonard? Will you just sit here and hold me?"

"Of course," said Leonard. He leaned back, put his arm around Penny and she leaned against him. They stayed that way, for the next couple of hours.

Sunday 25 April, Noon

Leonard and Penny returned from their usual Sunday Brunch at Marston's. Penny was wondering if Leonard was going to go over and talk to Amy, but he pulled her toward the couch, and said, "Not yet, I want to get this done first. You ready to get the names?"

Penny smiled and nodded, and walked over to her purse, before returning to the couch. Leonard walked to his desk and returned with a piece of paper.

"Have you come to a decision?" asked Leonard.

"Yes, I have, how about you?" said Penny.

"Yes, I have, but you write yours down first," said Leonard.

"Okay, I decided I wanted to honor my great-aunt," said Penny. "She's the one that encouraged me and bought me the car, so my name is Annikka. She came over from Sweden when she was a little girl." Penny wrote it down on the piece of paper.

"Sounds like me, I'm going to honor my uncle Floyd's wife, with Jessica," said Leonard as he wrote the name down.

They both smiled, "So, it's Jessica and Annikka," said Penny. "Or, Annika and Jessica. We talked about having similar names, since they are twins, and I guess that is as close as we can get."

Leonard looked at the two names for a few seconds. He started writing, as he said, "How about this, we remove one 'k' from Annikka, and remove an 's' from Jessica, and change the 'c' to a 'k', and we get Annika and Jesika. That way we have the same pronunciation, but the names really are similar."

Penny looked at the names Leonard had written down, "Annika and Jesika, Annika and Jesika. I like it. Let's go with those two. As you said, they are similar, but I really like how they are rather unique in how they are spelled."

Leonard smiled, "How about this, the first one out, gets the name Annika, 'cause, after all, alphabetical order."

Penny just shook her head but smiled. "That sounds good."

"And, their middle names?" asked Leonard.

"I say we go with Savannah, for both," said Penny. "After all, we both had that name on our list."

Leonard smiled, "Then, Annika Savannah Hofstadter and Jesika Savannah Hofstadter, it is." He paused for a second, then frowned, "They'll be nine before they can spell their whole name."

"Nah," said Penny with a smile. "They are going to be smart and beautiful, right? They'll be able to spell their names when they're three."

Saturday 25 April, 4 PM

Leonard had been working on trying to figure out what went wrong with the changes to his experiment, but he was also looking at the clock. He shut off his computer and walked toward the door. Penny looked at him quizzically, and said, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to talk to Amy," said Leonard. "I don't want to do it too late, so right now seems like a good time."

Penny nodded and Leonard walked across the hallway. He knocked and Sheldon answered the door.

"Hello Leonard, what are you doing over here?" asked Sheldon.

"I want to talk to Amy about us moving," said Leonard.

"Amy, someone is here to see you," said Sheldon. Who then quickly walked across the hallway, and knocked on 4A, Knock, knock, knock, "Penny." Knock, knock, knock, "Penny." Knock, knock, knock, "Penny." He waited a couple of seconds, then opened the door, went in, and closed the door.

From inside 4B, he heard Amy say, "Who is it?"

After a few seconds, "Sheldon, who is it?" Amy came out of the bedroom and sounding exasperated said, "Sheldon, who is…" she stopped when she saw Leonard.

"Hi, Amy,"

"What do you want?" said Amy, sounding a bit angry.

"I want to talk to you," said Leonard. "I felt you would be able to talk to me a little easier."

"Well, I'm pretty mad at you, too," said Amy.

"I can understand that," said Leonard. "May I come in and sit down?"

Amy indicated the couch and Leonard entered and sat down at the far end of the couch, Amy sat at the end nearer the door.

"What do you want to say?" said Amy.

"Amy, if you think we did this intentionally, I want to assure you, we didn't," said Leonard. "We were looking at places up in the valley, near San Fernando and Reseda, even out to Camarillo and further east, near Ontario or Fontana. So, up near Howard and Bernadette is pretty close."

"But, why there?"

"We had a list of things that we were looking for in a house," said Leonard. "Some that were close were in those places, some we could afford were in those places. The one next to Howard and Bernadette had everything we wanted, at a price we could afford. It's really that simple."

"But, you won't be across the hall," said Amy, sadly.

"And, you know, we weren't ever going to be, across the hall," said Leonard. "We have to think of our babies, and you even admitted that we needed to move, when we told you we were thinking of it."

"But, it's harder when it's actually going to happen," said Amy.

"I know, but it simply can't be helped," said Leonard. "You and Sheldon have a similar problem. Think about the room you'll have when you move back over here. You won't be fighting all the time about who gets how much of the living room."

"You can hear us?"

"Well, not what you're saying, all the time, but yeah, we can hear you yelling at each other," said Leonard.

Amy looked down. She knew, in her head, Leonard was right, but her heart still hurt, thinking Penny was abandoning her. In reality, she knew they had to move because they needed the room in a different, but much more physical way than her and Sheldon.

Amy let out a long sigh, then said, "I'll be honest, Leonard, it's going to take some time. Rationally, I know it's what you need to do, but emotionally, I've never had a friend as close as Penny, and it just feels like I'm losing her, and it upsets me."

Leonard raised his voice, "Don't you think it upsets her too? Since we started, both of us have been worried about how you and Sheldon would react, along with how we were feeling about not having you near us. And let me tell you, worrying about things isn't good for Penny."

"What do you mean?" said Amy.

"She's carrying two babies inside her," said Leonard. "We haven't said anything, but the last couple of weeks her blood pressure has been high. The doctor says if they can't get it under control, they may have to put her on bed rest. She doesn't need to be worried about how you are going to react. Trust me, between buying a house, moving, work, and the babies, she has enough worries."

"I'm just going to miss her," said Amy sadly.

"Yeah, okay, I get that," said Leonard. "But you'll at least get to see her. And we've already told you we'll see each other at least a couple of times a week. We promised you that and we'll keep that promise. Although it may be at our place for a while, so we don't have the logistical problems of moving everything to care for two babies."

"And, look at it this way, when she broke up with me, she was right here, and I couldn't see her," said Leonard. "And, when I did, it was awkward. You'll be able to come over any time, er, anytime that you would come over now and it won't be awkward. And, you'll probably be excited to see the babies."

Amy sighed, "Yeah, okay, I get it. I'm sorry I'm causing problems. It's just going to take a while for me to get over it. To get my rational mind to control the emotional side. So please bear with me. And I have started to come around to the idea. Sheldon has been using the same rationale I was trying to use on him, so I expect him to continue."

Leonard smiled, "So, you think if we give you some time to process this, you'll be good?"

"Yes, I think so," said Amy, smiling weakly.

"Then I won't push anymore," said Leonard. "But, please don't give us the silent treatment, when we do see you. We still are your best friends."

Amy nodded and Leonard stood, walking to the door. He turned back, "Thank you, Amy. I know it's hard, but we don't want to lose either of you as friends, and we do appreciate the struggle this is causing you."

"And I appreciate your coming over here, thanks," said Amy, walking up to Leonard and hugging him. "Especially when you told me the part about Penny's blood pressure. She is my friend and I don't want to cause more problems for her health. Tell her I'll be over tomorrow to see her."

Leonard left and went back to his and Penny's apartment. She and Sheldon seemed to be just finishing a conversation. Sheldon got up and left, and Leonard walked over and sat down next to Penny.

"Sheldon is working on it for us," said Penny.

"What do you mean?"

Penny paused, "You know, I'm not sure he's as naive as we think he is. Remember when Amy said she would work on him?"

"Yeah, she would try to get him to understand," said Leonard.

"He was telling me how, last week, Amy was talking to him about us moving. How it wasn't to make him mad, how we needed the room and a bunch of other things."

"Yeah, so?"

"He said that he's turned it around on her, and used the same reasoning to get her to understand," said Penny.

Leonard chuckled, "I don't think he's going to need to push as much."

"What do you mean?"

"I talked to Amy, and she understands," said Leonard. "She also knows about your high blood pressure. For her, it's a fight between her rational mind and her emotional feelings. I pointed that the way she was acting could cause you problems, and she feels bad about it. She also now understands that we could have moved a lot farther away"

Penny looked puzzled.

"Remember the places in the valley, further west, and east of here?" asked Leonard.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about those," said Penny.

"Well, now she knows about them and I think going to Altadena isn't going to be that big of a deal for her now," said Leonard. "We are going to have to give her some time to work it out, but I think she'll be fine, so we shouldn't have to worry about her. If Sheldon is pushing her, it may not take as long. So, I think this will be over soon. As a matter of fact, Amy said she'd be over tomorrow, to say hi."

"I'm glad," said Penny. "Because, as unlikely as it would seem to be, from when you first met me, she really is my best friend."

"And, Sheldon is my best friend," said Leonard. "It's a good thing our best friends are going to be able to handle this."