Chapter 13

Housing

They arrived back at the farm in the late afternoon and as Penny walked towards the house, Leonard meanwhile, who was busily engaged in unloading the car had stopped to remove his glasses to clean the lenses, when Penny's sister Jan at once seeing a tanned and fit Leonard, openly ogled him, unknown to Leonard but not to Penny who immediately felt uncomfortably insecure "Jan! Please don't", Penny asked her, the distress over Jan's leering at Leonard clearly evident on her face "OK", Jan pouted " no need to panic, I guess I am just seeing what you have always seen, but how did he go suddenly from nerd to hot?", "It's always been there, and you know that is just half of what makes Leonard attractive", "Are you referring to what I think you're referring to?", Jan asked her wide eyed.

"No, I'm not. Get your mind out of the gutter Jan. No I mean Leonard is also sweet and so kind. He goes to extraordinary lengths just to make me happy. And I'm so lucky to have found him. Truly, he came into my life and made it wonderful" Penny explained, as her face just lit up as she listed Leonard's qualities. "And he's mine forever, OK". Penny warned Jan quite firmly. And at one look at her sisters face Jan saw something else that had been hidden from her until that day, Her sisters absolute adoration for Leonard. "Wow Girl, I just can't believe you got it so bad, I ain't never seen you to be so strongly hung up on a guy as you are with Leonard?". "He's just very special", Penny barely whispered to her sister, as she watched her husband carry their bags from the car.

And if Leonard wasn't busy with the bags, his cheeks would have burned.

However, two weeks of Penny, sunshine and fishing over the last two weeks, had given Leonard more get-up-and-go, and after taking their bags up to their room he asked Penny if she would like to go somewhere for a meal and a drink and perhaps dancing (Leonard had decided on the night before the wedding that he would certainly need to do more of the things that Penny was interested in, in order to keep them strong as a couple). But Penny slumped on the sofa was too tired, Leonard was worried as again she looked quite pale too.

After they had dinner Penny showed her parents Leonard's wedding present, Marcia, Penny's Mom, upon learning of the significance of the snowflake pattern, said ,with her eyes beginning to tear up, "Oh that is so romantic Penny", she exclaimed. Shortly after Penny began to doze off and begged Leonard on being roused by him if he would carry her up to bed, and her last thoughts that evening were "He is no nerd", as he carried her easily up the stairs to her bed.

The next morning Leonard brought Penny up a cup of coffee and tried to wake her but Penny angrily shook him off seemingly unable to wake up Leonard knew that Penny never liked waking early but this was 10:55 and it was very unusual for Penny to get as angry as that and she still looked pale and Fatigued despite sleeping all night from 20:30 pm the previous evening, Leonard decided it was time she saw a Doctor.

Doctor Thomas arrived a couple of hours later and Penny was still slumbering, his experience of many years as a practitioner told him that this was a reaction to a virus ,so he questioned Leonard, if they had been anywhere recently and Leonard explained about their honeymoon at Lake McConaughey. Dr Thomas then concluded that Penny was having a rare reaction to an insect bite but he could not give her anything now as he would have to take a sample of blood from her for tests first , Though Leonard was not to worry as it wasn't serious, then after a sample of blood was taken from Penny, Leonard told him that Penny might be pregnant, and Dr Thomas reassured him that Penny's own immune system would protect the foetus, He then gave Leonard the number to ring for the results of the blood test and then left.

Leonard was restless after weeks of being together with Penny, with his worry for her, as well as her absence now, made him uncomfortable

So Wyatt showed him some farm chores he could do to keep his mind occupied, and Leonard worked hard.

The next day Leonard rang and received the results of the blood test and was instructed on the drug and dosage to give Penny. And as soon as he got off the phone he went to a pharmacy.

Penny woke but still felt very tired, but she had to get out of bed as to her immense shame she had slept so much she had wet the bed, she slowly made her way to the shower removed her shorts and Leonard's T shirt (another Idea of hers to stop the nightmares as it had Leonard's scent on it)

then naked and puzzling over the plaster on her arm, she had a shower, dried and put on fresh clothes then laid on the dry part of the bed and slept.

Leonard returned an hour later then went up to Penny and woke her with some difficulty, gave her a dose of the antibiotics and then laid beside her to hold her then quickly getting up in surprise at the large wet patch on his shirt and trousers. "I forgot to tell you, I wet the bed she sleepily told him. And what did you do to my arm?", she quizzed, and he told her about the blood test and the virus from the insect bite. "An Insect I thought it was you getting too excited?", she teased

Leonard then spent the rest of the afternoon washing the bedding and cleaning the mattress.

At last the day to do the pregnancy test arrived and Penny had the previous day had picked up five different tests while shopping with her sister and her mother, seizing the opportunity to buy them when the two women had gone for a bathroom break, Penny didn't feel able to tell them yet in case she wasn't pregnant.

That afternoon Penny (after drinking three bottles of mineral water) peed on all five indicators , and with Leonard, waited on tenterhooks for the time to elapse.
"It's so peculiar, many times before, I hoped for a negative a result, but now I'm really dreading a negative one", she thought, then turning to Leonard she put her arms round him burying her head in his shoulder "Oh honey I don't think I could cope with it if I'm not pregnant", Leonard stroked her hair but now he had been thinking about being a Father, even he looked positively sick at the thought of his Penny having a negative result.

Finally as the last second wound down Leonard examined the tests (as Penny just could not bear to look),His shout of joy at seeing all five showing positive made Penny start, then after seeing them for herself she burst into tears and hugged Leonard so tightly he thought his ribs would crack, "Leonard", she said "we're going to be parents" then with Penny in tears, they rushed downstairs to announce their happy news.

The collective shout of joy could probably heard clear across Nebraska as Marcia and Jan both rushed to hug Penny while Wyatt shook Leonard's hand, then had to leave in order to hide a few tears and compose himself after seeing how incredibly happy Penny looked. Leonard then found himself in another bear-hug from Marcia.

Later, after the excitement had died down, Penny rang and told Janey her happy news.

And later Leonard was sitting with Penny in the lounge as Penny looked up some information on pregnancy on Leonard's Laptop. "Penny, we need to talk", Leonard said.

"That sounds like you're about to break up with me?", she joked. "Certainly not, not now I finally got you to marry me honey" he replied. "No I mean we need to talk about things like putting your name on my savings and current bank accounts, and we need to start looking for a house now that we have a baby on the way".

"yes, I really can't see us being able to live in my apartment with all three of us, and as to buying a house how much can we afford?, my savings have dwindled right down since my illness and you yourself said our funds were a little low?, so how much have we got?".

Leonard got on his laptop and accessed his savings account. Penny goggled at the figure displayed there, "I thought we were nearly broke?, Leonard there's over $600,000 dollars here?".
"That's my savings account I've been saving like forever, and my grandmother left me some money when she died, also I got paid quite well from the hawking trip, also my salary as a tenured professor should increase now. but I was actually referring to my current account and now I guess we should look online for suitable houses in Pasadena, if only to give us some idea of prices".
Penny felt rather helpless financially, as her savings were down to $10 and her bank account was only showing an amount of $150 , but now she was Leonard's wife and she felt very strongly her need to contribute towards the house and other things. She considered her career again, now she was pregnant, she didn't want to return to waiting on tables, that was even worse than having to flirt with Doctors. She remembered back to the days at the cheesecake factory, getting hit on by guys, enduring their lewd comments, not to mention the lousy tips. She then thought of maybe getting a college degree but she just couldn't think of what subject she could take that she would excel at?.

And all these hard facts contributed to Penny feeling pretty depressed.

Leonard meanwhile was still looking at real estate websites then spotting one likely candidate he pointed to it saying, "what do you think about that one honey?", he asked her, then noticing her downcast face he put an arm round her shoulders and asked "what's up honey, you OK?".

Penny explained how she was feeling at being unable to contribute and Leonard told her he knew she was clever enough, and he had full confidence in her to find a solution, (knowing how important to Penny this was).

Penny then felt a little better and looked at the house details. but they decided against the location of it.

Then Wyatt asked Leonard for assistance in the barn, so Penny looked at some more houses, as Leonard went to help Wyatt.

When they entered the barn. Wyatt turned to Leonard and spoke, "Listen son, you and Penny will be needing to buy a house, now I've got $100,000 I want you to take it, I asked you to take care of her and if I can make it easier for you to do that I will", Leonard more than a little overwhelmed by his father in law's gesture explained that he had the money and said, "I appreciate your offer Wyatt, but I love Penny very much and It's really up to me now to look after her and truly, It has been my dream to do so from the first time I saw her". Wyatt smiled "Well son you just spoke like a good man would, I must say I'm mighty proud of the both of you", Then slapping Leonard on the back he offered him a drink back in the house.

Later in the kitchen, Marcia smiled to herself as she watched Penny mixing some cake mixture, "I can't believe how determined she is to learn to cook (for while Leonard worked with Wyatt or on his laptop, Penny would often be found in the kitchen with her cookbooks and also receiving instruction from her mother, Marcia) "Love sure is a great motivator, I could never get her the slightest bit interested in cooking before she married Leonard". Marcia thought.

Soon It was time to return to Pasadena as Leonard had to return to Cal-Tech and they still had to look for a house, also Penny had the first of her sessions due from the Psychiatrist in Pasadena.
Leonard instructed Wyatt and Marcia how to use MSN video chat and Skype so that they could keep up to date with Penny 's pregnancy.

And the next morning they made their way back to Pasadena.

Sheldon's homeostasis was coming apart at the seams Not only was Leonard now married, and expecting a baby and now he had achieved tenure, he was also looking for a house with Penny, Really, this was just too much, Leonard had no consideration at all, besides his insulting attitude at previously walking all over the room mate agreement he should have turned down the tenure and recommended Sheldon for the post. (Sheldon ignored the fact that they preferred married candidates due to the eccentricity of the previous single ones, and instead put down their selection of Leonard being due solely to Penny wearing her little black dress). Amy had suggested that if Sheldon married her, then they will surely select him instead of Leonard, but to her immense disappointment, he immediately pooh-poohed the idea. But Sheldon did need a constant in his life and finally agreed to Amy moving in to 4a which cheered her immensely after the marriage suggestion proved so disappointing.

All the gang were in 4a when Leonard & Penny arrived, Amy and Bernadette shrieked their excitement at seeing Penny looking radiant with her pregnancy and all were stunned at the tanned and fit appearance of Leonard, looking much healthier as a result and all thereafter were busy catching up on Penny's news at how her honeymoon went, (except Sheldon who maintained a sulky silence throughout), in fact Bernadette and Howard were so interested in Penny's description of Lake McConaughey that they looked into arranging a visit for themselves for a couple of weeks or so.

After a couple of hours the tired couple left for 4b had a coffee(Leonard) and a mineral water (Penny) then went to bed. It had been decided that Penny would look round houses then when she found one that would fit their criteria, then they would both view it again.

Meanwhile Leonard, now back at Cal tech was assigned an assistant to help him with the clerical side of things, though Penny was at first not at all pleased at the fact that his assistant was an attractive woman in her mid twenties, till Leonard explained that he was about to turn her down , being worried at the effect it would have on Penny, when Sarah commented on the photo on his desk of Penny and himself together. Then Sarah showed Leonard a picture of her partner, an attractive woman that Sarah had been in a close relationship with for four years.

Later that morning Penny went to view her first house but found the Agent's description differed from the actual house itself, which looked like college students had been running riot in it for quite some time. Penny thanked the Agent after declaring that it was not what they were looking for (not in a month of Sunday's) then she made her way to Cal-Tech to meet Leonard for a coffee .

She entered the canteen and saw Leonard seated at a table Their faces lit up as they saw each other, and she sat down while Leonard got the coffees and a pasta salad for each of them.

"So how did you find the house?, was it OK I mean", Leonard asked.

"No, I'm afraid it was a wreck honey", Penny replied, unable to keep the disappointment off her face. "So tell me how is the tenure going?" ,Penny asked him.

"Well it was mainly awarded to me for my extensive work with lasers and also because I worked on the North sea trip with Hawking therefore I attract a lot of funding for the university", Leonard informed her.

"Was Hawking pissed with you for not going on his next one though?", Penny asked, feeling a little guilty at not letting him go.

"No not at all when I explained, he was very understanding, Oh! Also he offered congratulations on our marriage by the way" Leonard said.

"That was nice of him, you'll have to tell him about the baby too", Penny answered.

"Good idea, I have to talk to him tomorrow anyway, as he wants me to go over the data here that they have collected in the North sea so far". The conversation continued more on domestic lines after that then Penny left for her appointment.

Upon arriving at the Psychiatrist's office she reported to reception and gave her name and asked to see Dr Griffiths ,as he was recommended to her by Dr Goldman of North Platte, Nebraska.

"I'm sorry I'm afraid Dr Griffiths is unavailable due to illness and it is not known when he will be able to return, you can see his stand in Dr Schuster instead if you wish?, The receptionist told her.

"OK, I'll see him then", Penny told her, then was directed to the waiting area where she sat until being called.

There were some people that one liked on first sight, (Leonard), and some people one took an instant dislike to and Dr Schuster came in that category, as soon as he entered his office, his piggy eyes were immediately on her rack and he seemed to not take much notice at what she was saying at all, and worse still seemed to view her as just a neurotic female.

So at the end of his session, Penny walked straight out without booking another appointment and miserably feeling not helped at all.

Leonard, on being informed about her ordeal at the psychiatrist's office worried intensely, Penny really needed these sessions if she was to recover at all, but Penny now was determined not to attend anymore sessions, but he did not know what what on earth he could do to encourage her to continue.

The next day at Cal-Tech he found it difficult to concentrate on his work, with his worry over Penny constantly on his mind, a fact not unnoticed by Sarah his assistant who asked him if he was OK.

Leonard hoping for a solution told Sarah about Penny's experience at the psychiatrist's office upon which Sarah's righteous indignation at the Doctor's unprofessional Manner and Leonard's distress (She had come to like Leonard, As he had always treated her with the utmost respect) and suggested to Leonard that Penny might like to see her girlfriend who had not long qualified as a psychiatrist.

Leonard could not believe his luck and thanked Sarah as she gave him her partners office contact details.

It took Leonard quite an effort to convince Penny to see her and after an "OK ,but if she ogles my rack too then I am finished with Doctors", she vehemently replied.

"What!, me as well?", Leonard declared feigning shock.

"No I didn't mean you honey, just Psychiatric Doctors", she clarified.

Penny's fears were unrealized Dr Julie Jeffers was totally professional and really listened intently to Penny, empathizing with her over her ordeal at her breakdown.

"So tell me, what's Leonard like?, does he treat you well?", Julie questioned.

Penny's face lit up the room as she started to talk about Leonard, so Julie satisfied alone at the adoration on Penny's face stopped her from saying any more, as she jokingly put it, or we could be here all night.

Penny left Julie's office feeling much refreshed and on top of the world after her session, then met up with Leonard again at Cal-tech to tell him how it went, and as usual, as she walked into the canteen her face lighting up at seeing her Leonard, then she kissed him, all the males in the canteen then envying Leonard's luck at being wed to such a beautiful girl. The she sat while Leonard went to get some food and drinks.

As she waited, Sarah came over and introduced herself and Penny thanked her profusely for putting her onto Dr Jeffers, Sarah beamed as Penny told her, without going into too many details how much better one session had made her feel.

Sarah then said "I may have another suggestion that may help you as my grandmother is no longer able to live on her own, and now she has to go into residential care and will have to sell her house, it has three bedrooms and a large garden to the rear and it is not far from here". Penny could not believe how well this day was going and wrote down the address hoping to see it this afternoon. Leonard had by now returned with the drinks and thanked Sarah for thinking of them. Then Sarah suggested that they both go to see it at four o'clock and that she would ring her grandmother to inform her of their visit to see the house, " actually", Sarah confessed "my grandmother has been worrying herself silly over dealing with Realtors and stuff so if she could avoid it, that would be better for her".

At four o'clock Penny and Leonard found themselves in front of an attractive house with a manicured front lawn, and a double garage with quarters above. At the same moment they looked at each other and smiled at their mutual excitement at immediately liking what they saw of the outside.

At the ring of the doorbell, the elderly lady came to the door and saw them and was immensely pleased at the sight of such a lovely couple on her doorstep, in fact she had seen them arrive from her window and they reminded her of the day her husband and herself came to look at the house nearly sixty years ago and she decided there and then that she liked this young couple and wanted them to experience all the happy times living here as her late Frank and herself had done.

Penny upon concluding the tour fell in love with the place, there was a basement, utility room, study, the main bedroom with en-suite and dressing room, a family bathroom, lounge and large kitchen it was perfect but the price could be well more than they could afford. Leonard discussed the financial matters with the seller, finally she agreed on $500,000 dollars if they paid her granddaughter the rest over a period of time that would be acceptable.

Leonard and Penny were ecstatic, "Leonard" Penny wept, "we've bought a house", "I know, I can't believe it" Leonard answered, excitedly hugging and kissing her.