A/N I actually got two and a half new chapters written this week. I'm halfway through chapter 79 so I'm feeling much better about staying ahead enough to not miss any more weeks. There is something in here that is a bit of a Mary Sue. The discussion about video games and getting older. Finally, I haven't done a disclaimer for quite a few chapters so, I don't own any of the characters that appeared on the actual show. Just the minor ones, like Louise here.

ETA: Sorry this is about a half-hour late, I was out this morning.

Chapter 76

Friday 5 June, 3:30 PM

Louise had left, and Leonard was cleaning the dishes and snacks off of the island. Penny was in the living room going through the notes she and Leonard had written down, looking over the various things the three of them agreed to put into the contract. The two biggest were, of course, wages and hours. Leonard and Penny had originally planned to try to and take care of the twins by themselves and have Louise come in three days a week, for four to five hours. Louise flat out said she wouldn't accept that, as it would be hard on both Leonard, Penny, and the twins.

Louise explained that neither of them had any long-term experience with one baby, much less two. And, she herself did have such experience, so she probably knew best on this. She said she didn't want to offend the Hofstadters, but in the babies' interest, she thought it best if she was to be there from the beginning. She also thought it would be best if she only worked five hours a day during the week and five on the weekends. If, after a week, they thought they could handle it, then she would willing to cut her hours and the number of days.

There was less of a struggle about her wages. They agreed to pay her $22 an hour, or $880 a week, for 40 hours, with $33 an hour for any time over 40, or if she was required during the weekend. Louise was happy with this as it was a two dollar an hour raise for her from her previous job. Although Louise mentioned she would not need the extra money for the first two weekends, as she offered. Leonard and Penny had also offered to include the use of the spare downstairs bedroom for Louise if she was there late at night.

The agency would do all the paperwork for the contract, do the deductions for taxes, and make out Louise's check. Leonard and Penny would have to put $2700 into an escrow account, adding an amount each week equal to Louise's pay for the week, to keep the amount in the account at $2700. They had also agreed to give her 11 holidays off, along with five personal days and an accrual of one and a quarter days of vacation a month. They would also split the payment of her health, dental, and eye insurance the agency offered. Most of these were recommendations from the agency, and both Leonard and Penny, along with Louise were agreeable to all of them.

Leonard brought a cup of tea with him, going to sit next to Penny. He said, "Well that went easier than I expected."

"We talked about most of this the other day," said Penny. "So, it was mostly writing it down. I have the worksheet where I'll write all this down, take it to the agency and they'll write up a contract. We'll sign it, she'll sign it, and we'll have a nanny. By the way, thanks for not drooling over her."

Leonard look puzzled, then said, "She is very attractive, but I'm not interested. I'm more interested in you and what you are carrying in your belly."

Penny smiled but looked down. "I love you, Leonard."

"I love you, too," said Leonard. "That's why I'm not interested in her."

Penny continued to smile, as she said, "Where are you taking me for dinner?"

"Anywhere you want to go within 25 miles," said Leonard, smiling himself and then taking a sip of tea.

"How about that Italian place on Walnut?" said Penny. "I can get a white sauce, so I don't have heartburn."

"7 PM sound good?" asked Leonard.

"Perfect," said Penny, leaning into Leonard.

Saturday 6 June, 1:30 PM

Leonard was studying the data of the latest run while Penny was filling out the worksheet for the agency when there was a knock on the door. Leonard got up to answer it and found Amy waiting there. He asked her in and went back to reviewing the data. He continued looking it over, not really sure how long it had been, when he heard the door open and when he looked up, Amy was leaving. He quickly looked at the clock and found it was after four. He stopped, got up, and walked over to Penny, sitting next to her.

"You're having pizza tonight," said Penny.

"Why pizza and how do you know this?" asked Leonard.

"The girls are taking me out for dinner tonight," said Penny. "They think it may be their last chance."

"And, what does this have to do with me eating pizza for dinner," said Leonard.

"Amy convinced Sheldon that tonight was going to be Halo night, and he was going to order pizza," said Penny. "Bernadette thought that was a great idea, so she arranged for Halley and Michael to go to their grandparent, and Howard, Stuart, and you are going to 4A, to play."

"What about Raj?" asked Leonard.

"He was asked, but he's got a show to do tonight," said Penny. "We got Stuart to come, so Sheldon doesn't complain about only having three and asks me to play. Denise is coming with us."

"We don't have a say in this?" asked Leonard.

Penny just gave him a 'really?' look

Leonard just nodded his head and said, "Yeah, that wasn't a very smart question. So when is all this supposed to happen?"

"We're going to meet at 4A at six," said Penny. "At that point, you guys can order the pizza and we'll leave. We should be back by 9 to 9:30."

"Then I guess we better get ready," said Leonard, walking toward the kitchen to put their cups away, with Penny following.

"So what were you and Amy talking about?" asked Leonard.

"She misses me, well, to be honest, I miss her too," said Penny. "She mentioned it when we moved, but we're not across the hall from them, and she can't just drop by anytime, so, she misses me. I tried to apologize, but she brushed it off, saying she understands. She did mention she might be coming over here a bit more often, and I told her that was fine, I would be glad to see her more often."

"But, we did a lot of catching up this afternoon," said Penny. "And, we'll probably do a lot more tonight."

They put the cups in the sink and started toward the stairs, "You talk on Wednesday nights, don't you?" asked Leonard stopping on the landing.

"Usually about work," said Penny, who continued up the stairs. "Not so much about our personal lives."

"Well, I'm looking forward to it and I'm kind of excited," said Leonard. "We haven't had a Halo night in quite a while."

"Well, then get your ass up here and get ready," said Penny, smirking and looking down at him from the top of the stairs.

Leonard looked up, smiled, and started up the rest of the stairs.

Saturday 6 June, 10:30 PM

Leonard and Penny were getting ready for bed. The women had gotten back to the apartment at 9:30, just as the guys finished their last game. Everyone said their goodbyes and left. They had been quiet on the way home, but now, Leonard said, "So, what did you all talk about tonight?"

"We talked about how things were going with Amy and Sheldon, Howard and Bernadette, and us," said Penny. "I also mentioned how things were going with the nanny and told them our plans about having her here during that two months where we won't have the Caltech daycare, and how she'll be here after they start at the Caltech daycare."

"They asked how I was doing and I told them about my aches and pains, my blood pressure, which they already knew about, and about the possibility of being put on bed rest. What did you guys talk about?"

"Nothing really," said Leonard. "Just about deciding who was going to be on what team, and who we were switching to, for partners, after each game."

"Nothing about how things are going at work?" asked Penny.

"No, nothing at all," said Leonard. "You forget, we see each other at lunch all the time and that's when we talk about our work."

"Okay, so how'd the game go?" asked Penny.

"It went fine," said Leonard. "Although it's starting to appear that we are losing some speeds we get older. All of us were complaining about not being able to move quite as fast as we used to move."

"Does that mean you'll stop playing?" asked Penny.

"Probably not," said Leonard. "Although we may stop playing online, against the kids who can move their fingers much faster than we can. One guy at work still plays and he's getting ready to retire. But, he only plays single-player on games like the Assassin's Creed series, or Red Dead Redemption, with some baseball and football thrown in. And, he plays on regular because his hands aren't very fast anymore."

"So, you'll be playing even after you retire?" said Penny in mock horror.

"Ha, ha, ha," said Leonard. "Yes, I will."

"Hey, you do remember this is our last week," said Penny, reaching down and rubbing on Leonard.

"Only for intercourse, we still have a few other things we can do," said Leonard with a wolfish grin.

"Yeah, but that starts next week," said Penny. She smiled slyly, "Tonight I want coitus."

Leonard smiled and said, "Sounds good to me, er…how do you want to do this?"

"Oh, Leonard," said Penny. "You know what's easiest for me now." She started kissing him while continuing to rub. After a few minutes, she slowly turned away from him, got to her hands and knees, and said, "Now Leonard, now."

Sunday 7 June, 10:30 AM

Leonard and Penny had both gotten up rather late, for them, and they were now drinking their first, and Penny's only, cup of coffee. He offered to let Penny stay home, while he went to the farmers market for their fruits and vegetables. This way, he told her, she wouldn't have to walk around. She said she wanted to go, so they both went, but Leonard was concerned about Penny and didn't let them dawdle, so they were back in just over an hour.

He brought the items in and while he was putting them away when Penny called for him. It didn't sound as if she was in any kind of trouble, but he said, "Are you all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine, just come up to the bedroom," said Penny.

Leonard said, "When did you go upstairs?" He didn't hear an answer, so he went to the second floor. When he turned into the bedroom, he found a naked Penny, leaning over the bed.

"Come on sweety," said Penny seductively. "We don't have much time left."

By the time she finished talking, Leonard had his pants off.

Sunday 7 June, 1:30 PM

They were both eating their lunch. After they finished, they cleaned up and Leonard made lunch. He sent Penny to the living room while he cleaned up and then he played some Red Dead Redemption 2, while Penny looked through the gossip magazines. They both took naps during the afternoon, with Leonard making dinner and cleaning up. They spent most of the evening watching some television.

They had prepared for bed and were now in bed, talking about the upcoming week. When they were done, Leonard said, "Goodnight, Penny," and kissed her. She reached down and began rubbing him, saying, "Leonard…" in her sexiest voice.

"What? You want to do it again?" said Leonard incredulously.

Penny pouted, "What, you don't want to do it?"

"I didn't say that," said Leonard.

"Then please have sex with me," said Penny. "After all, there will be six or more weeks after they are born where we can't do it either. This may be your last chance until October."

Leonard didn't even hesitate, he started kissing her again.

Monday 8 June, 10:30 AM

Leonard was watching the ops team do the checks on the wires for the module to produce 18 entangled photons, It was taking a bit longer to finish as only the post-docs were working on it. All the undergraduate students, who usually did the manual labor were on the three-day study period, for their finals. He had been late getting here this morning, going over Tony's grades with him, before sending them in. But, now, he was thinking about yesterday and last night. Finally, he shook his head to clear it from those thoughts.

Let's see, we'll check the wiring today and tomorrow and then the power checks on Wednesday morning. Wednesday afternoon we'll do a low power test and then on Thursday, we'll do the full power test.

He was also thinking about next week, when they would redo almost the entire machine by installing the new 10, 14, and 18 modules, along with the new switching module. He heard his phone ring and it was Tom, wanting him to come up to Tom's office to ask him some questions about the data analysis. Leonard said he'd be right there, so he hung up, told Keith where he was going, and left. He wanted to hurry as he didn't want to be late for Penny's appointment.

Monday 8 June, 1:10 PM

Penny was nervous. It was already ten minutes past her appointment time, and Dr. Samuels still hadn't come out to get them. She had arrived early and they had taken the blood samples, along with her temperature and blood pressure, again taking the blood pressure four times. Finally, the door opened and Dr. Samuels called her name. She and Leonard walked to the office and found their usual seats.

Dr. Samuels started, "First, I want to go over the feeding schedules, for twins, that we didn't talk about at the feeding class last week."

"As you know, from the explanation we gave for single births, we would like to give you some time alone with your babies, for their first feeding. If everything goes as planned, you'll feed your babies within an hour of giving birth. We'll have a lactation specialist there, to help you. We'll cover everything in class, but she'll help you with the actual process that first time."

Dr. Samuels became serious, and continued, "However, with multiples, there can be considerations with the second, for example, cesarian for the mother, one or both being in the NICU, that could prevent it. If something comes up to prevent you from giving them their first feeding, we'll try to help you to express some breast milk, they won't need much, and have Leonard give it to them. This way, they get their first feeding and your breast milk production started."

"Once you start feeding, you'll have some decisions to make," said Dr. Samuels. "Like, are you going to feed them at the same time, or separately? Or, are you going to have them use the same breast each time or switch, which we recommend to balance production."

"Right now, I don't know," said Penny.

"And we won't, until after you give birth," said Dr. Samuels. "I'm just giving you some possibilities so you can think about it and be prepared for after you give birth. Some of this is also going to depend on their sleeping schedules. You could have the nightmare of one waking up to eat, and the other waiting for an hour, before waking up. So you end up awake all the time. If this happens, give the lactation specialist a call. She'll recommend various things that may help, a nanny, pump and have your husband feed the second, or you could wake the second, just as you finish feeding the first. If they are both awake and you're not ready to feed them both at the same time, you'll have a different set of problems."

Penny and Leonard looked worried, which doctor Samuels noticed, so she said reassuringly, "I'll tell you what, how about you stay for ten to fifteen minutes after the class tomorrow night and we can go over the specifics. This way you don't have to wait a week to talk about it."

Leonard and Penny both looked a bit relieved and nodded.

Dr. Samuels looked at the papers in front of her for a few minutes then looked back up at both of them, before saying, "Now, you both feeling better? You understand what you should be thinking about, as far as breastfeeding?"

Penny smiled and nodded.

Dr. Samuels continued, "Good, I wanted to go over that now, so you could concentrate on that and not be thinking about other things."

"What other things?" said Penny.

Dr. Samuels looked at Penny seriously, "I really don't want to do this, but I don't think I have a choice, I'm going to put you on modified bed rest until the twins are born."