A/N I want to give a shout-out to the guest reviewer who doesn't think I have the guts to post their review. You're partially right, I only approve bad reviews by those who have the guts to post their review with their names, or within the review. A drive-by smear by an anonymous guest doesn't get approved. Does that clear it up for you? So, by all means, if you feel so strongly, use your Fan Fiction name. As to other things, I'm feeling bad for Kaley and Karl today, it's always a sad thing when a relationship ends. As for the story, we get a glimpse of how helpful Bernadette's experience could be and we get a bit of a puzzler, at the end. Enjoy.

Chapter 70

Tuesday 19 May, 7:00 PM

Leonard was finishing up washing the dishes. Penny had tried to help, but Leonard was firm, reminding her about what Dr. Samuels had said. She had been unusually quiet during dinner and while he cleaned up. Leonard was wondering what was going on, so he was a bit relieved when Penny asked him to come and sit with her on the couch after they finished.

"What's up?"

"Nothing really," said Penny. "Just want to let you know my breasts were leaking today. I was working on something and felt a wetness on my chest. When I looked down, there were two spots on my blouse. When I checked they had leaked through my bra."

"I called Bernadette and she came down to my office. I used one of the washcloths I had for my sweating, to clean off, while Bernadette wiped off my bra. We put a couple of nursing pads in my bra, Bernadette had a few in her desk. I used one of my spare blouses I keep in my office and on the way home, I bought some nursing pads, of my own, to wear if I do leak."

"Did you call Dr. Samuels?" asked Leonard.

"No, I didn't," said Penny. "I thought about it before Bernadette got there. But, she calmed me down and explained what was going on and I looked it up on that baby site. Turns out, it's just my breasts getting ready to feed our babies. Bernadette said she stated leaking in the second trimester with Halley. And, of course, she was still feeding Halley, when she was in the second trimester with Michael."

"So, there's nothing to worry about?" asked Leonard, sounding worried.

"No, just the normal reaction of the body to prepare…Ooooffff," said Penny, feeling what she thought was a minor cramp across her upper belly, then it continued. "Oh, wow," she said, putting her hand over her belly.

"Are you okay?" asked Leonard, again sounding worried.

Penny held up one finger, taking short quick breaths as the intensity increased, then as it started slowly stated decreasing, she slowed her breathing.

"Wow, that started out feeling like a light cramp," said Penny. "Then it got worse."

"Was it a contraction?" said Leonard, with some concern.

"I don't know," said Penny. "Although it only lasted for about thirty seconds, let me call Bernadette."

Tuesday 19 May, 9:30 PM

Bernadette had just left, and Penny was relaxing on the couch. They had determined that what Penny had was a few Braxton-Hicks contractions, what some women called false labor. Penny had explained what had happened and was trying to describe how the pain felt when another one started. Penny said it had been a half-hour and Bernadette timed this one for thirty seconds. She then had Penny get up and walk around the house for fifteen minutes.

At 9 PM, Penny expected another one, and while she was prepared, nothing happened. Bernadette explained that Braxton-Hicks usually means the body was preparing for labor, but it was not in labor. She also explained how moving around, or changing what you were doing usually caused Braxton-Hicks to stop, where real contractions kept going. Also, real contractions lasted for over thirty seconds, not less, like Penny's. Leonard and Penny thanked Bernadette who then left.

"So, how bad was it?" asked Leonard.

"It wasn't bad at all," said Penny. "It just caught me by surprise and the breathing really helped. But, Bernadette assures me that the real contractions will, to quote her, '…hurt like a motherfucker,' so I have THAT to look forward to," said Penny, a bit sarcastically.

"I'm sorry," said Leonard. "But, I'll be there with you."

Penny smiled, "I know sweety, but you are going to help with the breathing part, you can't help me with the pain, that's something I'm going to have to handle myself."

"Well, the breathing should reduce the pain," said Leonard.

Penny sighed, "No Leonard, it won't, it will just help me tolerate it better, but that won't help me reduce the pain."

Leonard just looked unhappy.

Wednesday 20 May, 9:30 AM

Leonard was working in the lab. The post-docs on the team were putting together the module that would hold the switch. Leonard and Keith already knew what wires would go into and out of the switch module, and into the other modules, so they were splicing into the wire bundles, to create several different wire bundles, going into, and coming out of, the new modules they intended to install.

It was tedious work. Find the wire off of the schematic, isolate it, then cut the wire. Add a separate new wire to each end, before adding a new connecting wire between the two ends, before soldering and wrapping the splice. They would then add a small tag, showing the pin number of the wire. They could have had their grad students do it, but this was their responsibility, so they were doing it.

Well, Keith was doing it, while Leonard checked the wire numbers from the schematic and occasionally getting down under the panels to help. Keith was much better at the delicate splicing work, so he was the logical choice to do it, with Leonard helping here and there. They had gotten about halfway done when Leonard heard, "Leonard, I need to talk to you."

"I'm sorry Sheldon, but I'm busy right now," said Leonard.

"Is it more important than super-asymmetry?" asked Sheldon.

Leonard heard Keith chuckle. He was well aware of Sheldon's quirks and had heard quite a few of Leonard's stories, so he said, "Go ahead, Leonard. I'll take a break and when you're done, we can get back to it."

Leonard looked at Keith, smiled, and nodded. He put the schematic down and walked over to where Sheldon was standing. "So, what's up Sheldon?"

"I want you to know I did what you suggested," said Sheldon.

Leonard braced for a negative comment.

Sheldon continued, "And you know, once I started just talking to them about it, I found they were actually very conversant on the theory. I complimented them on their knowledge and they told me about, what turned out to be, several good ideas about how to test certain aspects of the theory. In ways, I didn't even think of doing. They even asked me for my input and thoughts on their ideas."

"See, I told you," said Leonard.

"Yes, I can see that it was helpful," said Sheldon. "But, I don't know that it was as satisfying as pointing out their errors."

"That may be Sheldon," said Leonard. "But, as much as you may dislike it, you will need the help of experimental physicists, to gather the data that will support or extend your theory."

Sheldon was silent for a few moments, before saying, "I suppose you're right, as is Amy. She helped me understand when I was being condescending or insulting, so she should get the credit also."

"That's good Sheldon, you're growing," said Leonard. "Now, since this is the first time you've been here in my lab, do you want me to show you around the lab?"

"No, not at all," said Sheldon. "It doesn't interest me, after all, it's experimental physics, not theoretical." With that, he turned and left.

Leonard could only shake his head and chuckle, before heading back up to start working, on the module, with Keith again.

Wednesday 20 May, 4:30 PM

Leonard wearily opened his office door, he was tired and stiff from working on the module all day. Leonard and Keith were confident once they were finished with the switch, that they would be able to change the machine over to get ten or fourteen entangled photons, whichever they wanted. They had finished at around three, and then Leonard had met with Tom and his data analysis team.

He wanted to know how the analysis of the ten and fourteen photon entanglements was going. Tom had told him it was going well, and they had verified that they had gotten 19 entangled photons when they ran the experiment to try and get fourteen. But now, with the possibility of getting 19 when they were trying to get 14, Leonard wanted a more in-depth analysis, to find which, 14 or 19, he would be getting during a run and why.

Now, though, in his office, he was looking forward to doing a quick check on his voice and emails, before leaving early. Dinner was at the Wolowitz's tonight, and he wanted to get a short nap in before heading over there. Raj was taking Sheldon to the comic book store and Amy would meet him at the Wolowitz's.

He noticed his phone message light was blinking, but he ignored that to check his emails. He didn't see anything important in there, at least nothing that wouldn't wait until tomorrow, so he deleted those that were irrelevant and shut his computer off, then checked his voicemails. The first one was from ten this morning and it was from Dr. Gablehauser, "Hello Leonard, I need you to come and see me as soon as you can today. There are some things we need to talk about, concerning Dr. Cooper's trip to Brookhaven. I'll talk to you later."

Dammit, thought Leonard. That was this morning. Looking at the clock, it was now 4:45 PM, so he called Dr. Gablehauser's office, and his secretary answer.

"Is Dr. Gablehauser in?" asked Leonard.

"No, he's in a budget meeting," said his secretary. "And he told me he won't get out until after six, so he won't be coming back to the office."

"Oh, okay, this is Dr. Hofstadter," said Leonard. "He called and said he wanted to talk to me, do you know what it was about?"

"No, I'm sorry I don't," said his secretary.

"Will he be there in the morning?" asked Leonard.

"He will, but he has meetings until 10 AM. Do you want to make an appointment with him at 10 AM? Just be warned, he may be late."

Leonard sighed, "Yes please, that will do, thanks."

They both said their goodbyes, and after he hung up he said out loud, "Sheldon, what did you do?"

Wednesday 20 May, 6:30

Leonard and Penny walked over to the Wolowitz's for dinner and were surprised to see Priya there again, with Raj. Amy was also there and everyone was just waiting for Howard and Sheldon to arrive with the food. They finally came in, things were set up and everyone got their food, while Howard and Bernadette made up the kids' plates.

Once everyone was eating, Priya explained that she was here for a week, to sign the final contracts. She did invite everyone over for a Sunday afternoon meal, as she would be leaving on Monday. Everyone agreed, though Sheldon asked her if she was going to be making chili, and only agreed after she assured him, she would not be making it.

Leonard was distracted all through dinner, and the conversation afterward. He wanted to talk to Sheldon, but he didn't want to do it publicly. So, while everyone else was talking after dinner, he followed Amy into the kitchen and managed to quietly talk to her. He quickly explained the call and asked to bring Sheldon over to the house, after leaving Howard and Bernadettes.

At 8:30, Leonard, Penny, Amy, and Sheldon all said their goodbyes and walked next door. They were sitting in the living room and Leonard said, "Sheldon, did you have any problems while you were at Brookhaven?"

"Well, I missed Amy," said Sheldon. "And you know I really don't like a change to my schedule…"

"No, Sheldon, I mean any problem with the Brookhaven team."

Sheldon thought for a few seconds then said, "Nothing that I can remember. I thought I was a delight, why?"

Leonard took a deep breath, then said, "I got a call from Dr. Gablehauser today, and he wants to talk to me about what happened at Brookhaven."

"Sheldon, what did you do?" asked Amy.

"Nothing, I was nice, not condescending, like you told me to be, Amy," said Sheldon. "I didn't say anything disparaging about the facility, as you told me, Leonard. I listened to their proposals, I explained Super-Asymmetry to them, it all went very well, I thought."

"Then why does Dr. Gablehauser want to see me about what happened at Brookhaven?"

"I don't know," said Sheldon. "You'll have to ask him."

"Wait a minute," said Amy. "Why would Dr. Gablehauser want to talk to you about what happened with Sheldon at Brookhaven?"

Leonard paused, that was a question he had been asking himself, so he wasn't sure how to answer that. Finally, he said, "He asked me to give Sheldon a few suggestions as to how to deal with other universities since he knows we are best friends. He thought Sheldon might listen to me."

"Oh, okay," said Amy. "That's would actually be a good idea, if Sheldon actually paid attention to any advice, good or bad, others have given him."

"So, I'll ask again, what did you do at Brookhaven?"

"I don't know, Leonard," said Sheldon. "I did what you and Amy told me to do and I thought it went well. They were all happy about my presentations and the seminars I gave, along with me answering their questions, so I really don't know."

Leonard thought for a few seconds, "Okay, I guess I'll just have to wait until I talk to him in the morning. I'm sorry I bothered you with this Sheldon."

"I'm sorry I can't think of anything," said Sheldon.

"It's okay," said Sheldon.

"Would you do me a favor and call me tomorrow, when you find out?" said Amy.

"I'll talk to Sheldon and he can tell you, how's that?" said Leonard.

"That's fine," said Amy. "And with that, we need to get home and get to bed."

The four of them said goodbye to each other and Amy and Sheldon left. Penny sat next to Leonard on the couch and rubbed his arm, "Maybe Sheldon did everything you asked of him, and they were just calling to say how well it went."

Leonard turned and looked at Penny in disbelief.

"Yeah, I know, what am I thinking," said Penny. "Will you call and tell me after you're done tomorrow?"

Leonard just nodded.

Thursday 21 May, 10:00 AM

Leonard was supposed to be working with Keith on the machine again this morning. But, his mind was thinking about Brookhaven and Sheldon and after explaining what was going on to Keith, he begged off and Keith got one of the post-docs to help him with the wiring.

Leonard kept looking at the clock in his office and, to him, it seemed to move slowly. Finally, at 9:45, he couldn't take it any longer and walked to Dr. Gablehauser's office. His secretary told Leonard he still wasn't in, but he could wait for him there.

At 10:15, Dr. Gablehauser arrived back in his office and waved Leonard in. After closing the door, Leonard tried to say something, but Eric held up his forefinger and then put away the files he had been carrying. Finally he turned, sat down, look up and nodded at Leonard.

"Okay, what did Sheldon do at Brookhaven?" asked Leonard. "Or, more correctly, who did he piss off this time?"

"That's just it," said Dr. Gablehauser. "He didn't piss off anyone, he did a great job there. I just want to thank you."

"Wait, what?" said Leonard.