Chapter 19

Threat

When Penny had heard through the gossip grapevine that Mr Sleazeballs ( Penny's nickname for him), long suffering Wife Andrea from number 11 had finally had enough and kicked him out, Penny felt elated. She had been, ever since he tried to make a pass at her by fondling her leg every time he changed gear, while giving Penny and her Daughters a lift to Cal-tech on the occasion of her car breaking down, quite keen to administer some discipline herself upon him. (preferably with her baseball bat). But as she had not felt it necessary to inform Leonard regarding Mr Sleazeballs advances, As the Lothario's attempts at seduction only served to produce a feeling of revulsion and anger, and as Penny thought to herself at the time, "The nerve of the guy?, how on earth can he possibly think that he could hold a candle to my Leonard anyway".

So revenge had finally been removed off the menu for Penny, with his subsequent eviction.

However two months later on a Saturday, as they were getting ready to take their girls to the beach for the day. Leonard was just at the task of strapping his girls in their seats, when Penny came to the door to ask if Leonard had packed the bag with the girls change of clothes, when she noticed Andrea openly ogling Leonard's tushy, As he was bent over to fasten the straps.

Penny's horror at seeing the look of absolute lust on the face of this woman towards Leonard, felt her mouth suddenly becoming dry and her stomach feeling as if it was tied up in knots as she began to panic, which then gave way to blind rage making her feel like running outside and wiping the sidewalk with this woman's face.

After a while though Penny was able to regain her self control, and began to wonder why she had had this extreme reaction at all. After all Leonard was utterly oblivious to the woman's lascivious behaviour, and so he was completely innocent. But despite this Penny still found herself being short tempered and snippy with her Husband, as they drove to the coast.

And once the family were settled on the beach, Leonard asked her if she was alright?. And on seeing the love and concern for her in her Husband's eyes, Penny immediately felt ashamed for taking her insecurities out on him.

"I'm so sorry Darling, I guess I was just out of sorts", she told him then she kissed him, an act for which Penny always found so soothing, and just by being in his arms she would at once feel at peace. And then she with Leonard concentrated on helping their girls to dig holes in the sand.

But over the next couple of days, Penny could not stop stressing over her feelings of violent rage, and feeling concerned too, that she might be relapsing, she rang Dr Julie Jeffers office only to be informed that Dr Jeffers was at a conference in Chicago and a Locum would be seeing her patients while Dr Jeffers was away.

Penny decided it might be better for her to see the Locum rather than wait for Julie and was stunned when she was given the familiar name and address of Dr Rachel Gallo.

On the Wednesday afternoon. Penny sat nervously in Dr Gallo's reception and waited to be called.

"Well Well, Mrs Hofstadter. Long time no see", Dr Gallo announced. Then added, "I hope you are not going to try and sell me something".

"Oh no!, No I quit that job some time ago. In fact I am doing interior design now", Penny told her quickly.

Dr Gallo at once relaxed and listened carefully while Penny related the events of Saturday.

"So you have three Daughters now, congratulations", Dr Gallo told her.

"What are they like?", she asked her.

And at once, positively beaming with pride, Penny told Dr Gallo all about Honey Marie, April and Angela, and even showed Dr Gallo some photographs of her girls.

"Well Penny, my conclusion on your extreme reaction that Saturday is solely because your family, and I have just seen this for myself, is the most precious thing of all to you and you saw this woman, not only a threat to your marriage, but she also represents a threat to your family too in your mind, By the way how is Dr Hofstadter?", Dr Gallo asked.

And again the big smile reappeared on Penny's face as she told Dr Gallo that Leonard was fine thank you.

"And Leonard, is he treating you well?", Dr Gallo asked her, in order to correctly ascertain how things were going in the Hofstadter household and to be sure that there were no underlying reasons for Penny's insecurity.

But again the huge smile reappeared as Penny told her, "Oh yes, yes indeed he certainly is", Penny informed the Doctor as she thought of how Leonard was helping out a lot more around the house and with the girls,in order to lighten Penny's load and to her embarrassment Penny found herself drifting into a daydream, as she fondly recalled the times her husband would often give her a wonderfully relaxing massage. Which often led to some quality loving time for the couple.

"Er Penny", Dr Gallo said to bring Penny's attention back to her. "I am afraid there is nothing you can do about this Andrea, in time she will meet someone else, I'm sure, after all, love will find a way you know. But I will give you something to take if you ever have another panic attack.

Penny though was a little disappointed with the diagnosis, and was heartily sick of taking tablets, and she decided upon the idea of perhaps herself finding Andrea her own man to ogle over, then the sooner Andrea can leave her Leonard alone the better. And also though she knew that Leonard loved Penny more than anything, she would certainly not be taking any chances of Leonard looking elsewhere but her, and Leonard was quite surprised to find that the frequency of his services in the bedroom towards Penny were suddenly greatly increased.

In the next couple of weeks Penny became almost obsessed in the task of finding Andrea a new man, but she soon discovered that it was much harder than she thought. The Mailman, nope too old. The Fed-ex man, Married. She did hold out hopes one day when she spotted Andrea talking to a guy who lived in an apartment a few doors down, only to find he had just got engaged. It would have been tempting to introduce her to Stuart if only he wasn't married as he was to Jeannie. Then she thought of Kripke, but even Penny balked at introducing him to Andrea. He was as bad as Andrea's ex partner, besides which Penny certainly did not want Kripke living on her doorstep so to speak.

Then for Penny things took a turn for the worse as when she was snuggled up with her husband while watching her favourite comedy 'Friends' on DVD when Leonard mentioned talking to Andrea just before he left for work that morning. So! the bitch is lying in wait for my husband now is she, Penny thought to herself, and after that she would make sure her girls were OK then she would see Leonard off herself every morning with the most passionate hug and kiss in case Andrea was watching. but despite all her efforts. Penny began to despair of ever finding someone for Andrea, so she would leave her Leonard alone, "He's mine!, and I'll never give him up", she would think to herself in a silent challenge to Andrea.

Until...

Leonard had just collected his lunch and was making his way to his usual table when, "Leonard!, hi there. Can I introduce my Uncle Bill who is taking a six month sabbatical from NASA. And some fast talking from President Siebert and myself has secured him to give a couple of talks here while he visits me". Dr Stephen Jones informed Leonard.

"Hi welcome to Cal tech", Leonard said to Dr Bill Jones as he warmly shook both of the men's hands.

Stephen continued, "My uncle has for the past seven years been investigating the existence of type M planets by means of the Hubble telescope, as well as being involved with the space shuttle program", Stephen revealed.

"Wow that's so exciting, I'd love to hear more, hey I've an idea why don't you both come to dinner on Saturday and then perhaps we can have a real discussion on the subject", Leonard invited, then added to Dr Stephen Jones, "Oh and bring Alex too, and congratulations on your engagement.

And after Leonard had informed Penny of his invitation, Penny welcomed the distraction from her current problem at hand and turned her mind to think about the food for Saturday.

She was looking forward also to seeing Alex again as she found she really liked the girl once Alex had found out that Leonard was in a serious relationship with Penny and stopped her pursuit of him and now Alex too had met her soulmate in Stephen, so everything in the garden regarding Alex now was rosy as far as Penny was concerned.

The conversation during the dinner was mainly on the latest discoveries found in the study of the universe while Leonard and Stephen discussed the latest theories on dark matter.

Alex though noticing Penny's lack of input, then kindly asked if Penny would like a hand with the dishes. "Then we can have girl talk while we work", Alex told her. And they began to carry the plates and things to the kitchen leaving the men still in deep discussion over the latest Scientific and astronomic theories. before Alex helped Penny to get the girls washed and dressed ready for bed

"He's nice isn't he?, Bill I mean", Alex asked Penny, as she helped Honey Marie with her pajama top.

"Yes and those English accents?", Penny replied.

"Yeah I know, aren't they the best", Alex stated.

"I am a little surprised that Stephen's Uncle is not that much older than himself", Penny observed.

"Apparently there was quite an age gap between Stephen's Father and his Father's Brother", Alex explained.

"Oh I see", Penny replied, then added, "He just seems a little sad somehow", Penny observed to Alex.

"Well I think, as you know what with his years at Uni and working for NASA, I don't think he really had the time for relationships or family, and now I think seeing your lovely family tonight, kind of reminds him what he is missing from his life, It's such a shame don't you think. I mean, I Myself though I love being a Physicist I still want a Husband and a family and I have been so lucky to find Stephen, and now I can have both. Just like Leonard and yourself have". Alex explained.

"I know, it's so wonderful. I must confess when I started dating Leonard I was so scared of commitment

and though I knew deep down I was totally in love with Leonard, I just couldn't get past the fear of it all going wrong and suffering enormous heartache. But now I feel it's the best thing that I have ever done", Penny admitted.

Then later that night, as Penny lay in Leonard's arms her mind returned to her problem with Andrea and thought out how she could introduce Andrea to Bill, but alas with no solution coming to her she snuggled even closer to her husband and fell asleep.

Leonard woke up that morning and after donning his robe, went downstairs to make coffee for himself and Penny and as he waited for it to percolate he watched the morning news on TV, when the doorbell rang, and on opening the front door Leonard was surprised to find Bill standing there.

"Hi Leonard. I'm so sorry to disturb but I have like an absolute clot left my cellphone here last night, and just as Bill had finished speaking, Andrea had approached and asked Leonard if he could show her son Simon some pictures of the stars as her nine year old son was absolutely nuts about anything to do with space, and she would be so grateful if he could. When Bill himself piped up.

"Perhaps I can help, I myself am an Astrophysicist and Astronomer and I am currently working at NASA perhaps I can show your son some really special images we have recently taken of galaxies from the Hubble telescope", then Bill suddenly remembering his manners offered her his hand, "I'm sorry, how rude of me. My name is Bill Jones, how do you do.

"Andrea", Andrea replied, feeling awestruck at meeting a handsome Englishmen, and a highly educated one at that, "I just love that English accent", she gushed as she shook his hand.

'Yeah you all do' , Leonard observed sourly to himself and Bill took his leave of Leonard after collecting his cellphone and went with Andrea to discuss a suitable time for him to see her son.

"Who was that at the door?", Penny asked as Leonard returned to her with the coffees.

And Penny's face took on a look of surprise at Bill's return for his phone then darkened severely as Leonard told her of Andrea's request for Leonard to talk to her son about space, before breaking out in a triumphant smile on learning that Bill had offered to go instead.

And as the months passed, things rapidly progressed between Bill and Andrea and Penny was over the Moon to be a guest at their wedding before Bill and Andrea moved to Houston to be near NASA headquarters. And as they said their vows Penny remembered Dr Gallo's words, "Love will find a way". And how true those words turned out to be for Penny did not need to do anything at all.

And another bonus was that Penny now knew perfectly well just how Leonard had felt every time a hot guy had hit on her.