Chapter 22

Malibu

When Leonard had returned that Friday lunchtime from Cal-Tech, because he had to move some of his equipment into the store room, for a couple of hours or so that Morning. And after his exertions with the heavy loads that morning, He was really looking forward to a nice relaxing break, and even more so to spending a whole three weeks with his beloved Wife and Daughters.

However on arriving at his house and entering the lounge, Leonard felt more than a little deflated to see that Penny had piled their luggage in the lounge, and from the sight of the pile, it seemed, from Leonard's point of view, that Penny had every intention to stay for three months rather than three weeks.

Leonard began to open his mouth in protest, then quickly decided to say nothing as he noted the stern 'leave it alone' look from Penny, and after a cup of coffee and a sandwich, Leonard sighed and began to load the luggage into the car. He was just about halfway through the pile, when a very excited, ' Today's the Day, We're going on holiday', Penny gave him such a passionate kiss that Leonard dropped the case he was holding and then hopped around in agony as the thing had landed heavily on his big toe, and Leonard was then wishing he had not changed his safety shoes for sandals before tackling the luggage pile and thereafter an 'I'm so sorry sweetie', Penny had to help him load the rest.

The nearly 50 mile drive to Malibu was, thankfully for Leonard, without incident. And on arriving the Hofstadter's, by now feeling hungry decided to head for Geoffrey's first for a meal and as they entered, there suddenly came from inside the restaurant the sound of a squeal of delight, "Oh my God, I don't believe it".

And at once Penny drew herself up with pride, and thinking that she had been recognized, when the Woman's voice continued, "Dr Leonard Hofstadter, Wow, I read your latest paper on achieving maximum energy from blue photons without generating heat by using Graphene instead of gold, Dr Hofstadter you are an absolute genius, please, I beg you, join us, I'm so eager to hear more", the Woman pleaded, and Penny feeling as though the rug had been pulled from underneath her, and was really not liking this sudden turn of events at all. And then was even more depressed to discover when she turned to look at the woman that it was was none other than the famous actress, Anne Hathaway herself.

All through dinner Anne and Leonard had talked excitedly about his latest paper, while leaving Penny feeling utterly ignored and frustrated at feeling totally unable to contribute to their conversation at all, lest she said something wrong and have them laugh at her, as well as feeling very angry that Leonard had not even mentioned to her that he had submitted a paper at all, in the first place. And to put the cherry on the cake, Penny was left to see to her Daughters herself.

"Well, you see using gold would be no good at all, as it would make the solar panel hugely expensive, so I thought that by using Graphene, which as you know is even better than gold at conducting electricity, an excellent conductor of heat, and is much stronger than gold. I could...", Leonard explained, while Anne sat enthralled and gazed at Leonard in hero worship.

The contrast of the look between Leonard's face and Penny's as they left the restaurant was a sight to behold.

Leonard had a huge smile on his face as he floated out the door on a high, while the look on Penny's face was as black as a thundercloud.

"Well! I hope you really enjoyed yourself in there Hofstadter", Penny hissed angrily at Leonard.

"Yeah, It was so great, and she is so knowledgeable about Physics", Leonard replied, still on cloud nine and totally oblivious to the sheer rage in Penny's voice.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, while you took April to the toilet, She invited us to dinner Sunday, Isn't that so sweet of her", Leonard informed Penny, with a huge smile plastered on his face.

At that news, coupled with the look on Leonard's face. Penny finally exploded, "OH, She did, did She?. Are you sure she meant us or just YOU!?, Well Hofstadter, if you think I'm going to sit there while you and her sit nose to nose and just talk about physics all night while ignoring me and the girls, then you are very much mistaken".

Then at that point, Penny, unable to bear it any longer rushed off and left Leonard with the girls.

Leonard by now had realized he had royally screwed up again, leaving himself feeling very distressed that he had upset Penny.

After a while, Penny tearfully made her way to the beach and walked along the shore, while occasionally giving dark looks to dissuade any guy from trying to join her, and asking what was up?.

Penny felt utterly inadequate and once again her insecurities were brought to the fore, 'Does Leonard really want to be with me?', she asked herself, He had seemed so incredibly happy talking to Anne about physics that Penny could not help wondering. More tears ran down her cheeks as she recalled the number of times she had tried and failed to understand Leonard's work. She was his wife, surely she should show more interest in Leonard's career?. Two hours later, as She spied a young man chasing a giggling young girl into the sea. And Penny was immediately reminded of the day she had first visited Manhattan beach with Leonard, who had also chased her into the sea and when she had laughingly told him, "alright, I give up, the throwing her arms around him, and kissing him when she became aware of powerful emotions, which increased her craving for him, when the next thing she knew, they were making passionate love in the sea.

It was shortly after they had got back together and laying alongside Leonard on the beach, Penny meditated on how so incredibly wonderful it had been with Leonard and wondered exactly what it all meant before realizing a little later, to her utter amazement, that it could only be complete and utter love, the like of which she had never ever felt before, and that day Penny realized, that Leonard would forever be the only Man for Her.

And after that cherished memory, Penny realized

1) She really needed to think things through, as well as have a long talk with Leonard.

And 2) She still had the keys to Kay's beach house in her purse, and at the thought of her girls, the urgency to find Leonard and her Daughters, was now paramount.

Leonard was still sitting in the MPV in the restaurant lot, and was by now quite anxious as to where Penny had got to and also his girls who were already distressed over the argument between their Mom and Dad, and were also by now very worried over where their Mom had gone too?, particularly April, who had become so stressed she began to cry.

Leonard retrieved his distressed Daughter from the car and was trying vainly to comfort her, but April just kept crying for her Mother, while all the while conscious of the curious stares from some of the restaurant patrons, when Penny tapped him on the shoulder from behind, and said,"Come on, let's find this beach house", as she took April from him. And worryingly for Leonard, in a strange neutral tone of voice.

They drove the short distance to the beach house and on arriving, Leonard tried to apologize, but Penny cut him short, "Just unload the car, please", Penny ordered as she carried a very clingy April into the house.

After Leonard had unloaded the car, Penny still refused to talk and ordered Leonard to keep an eye on Honey Marie and Angela, on the beach, while Penny sat in the armchair, and comforted April, who had by now stopped her tears and snuggled down against her Mom.

Later that night Penny lay unable to sleep at all and struggled to understand just why Leonard had failed to tell her about his paper.

She had always informed Leonard of every development in her career, both in interior design and as an actress, and compering the makeover show, and Penny still felt very hurt indeed at Leonard's total lack of regard towards her.

She sighed and just listened for a while to Leonard's breathing. Nothing at all had changed for her in her feelings for him. She still loved him very much indeed, 'But I want to be more involved in his life, especially his career, I want to be able to understand his work, he's so passionate about physics and I want to experience that passion with him. Is that so wrong?, after all's said and done, we are a team, aren't we?', she said softly to herself.

And unable to come up with a solution Penny turned with her back to Leonard and softly cried herself to sleep.

Saturday things were still much the same, Penny and Leonard were barely talking to each other while at the same time Penny was dreading the dinner at Anne Hathaway's place. Thus therefore was the situation in which the girls felt even more acutely the awful atmosphere, and instead of happily playing in the sand as they usually did. They listlessly drew patterns in the sand, as they wondered what on earth was going to happen next. Penny lay in her recliner and caught up on the sleep she lost last night, while Leonard sat and watched the girls.

Sunday evening arrived and Penny, with a set expression on her face, kept her silence throughout as they walked the short journey to Anne's house, while Leonard did exactly the same, being too fearful of saying the wrong thing and driving Penny away again.

Leonard rang the bell and Anne herself excitedly came to the door and invited them in.

Anne introduced her son Jonathan to the girls, but only Honey Marie was interested in playing together with him.

April, as soon as Penny had sat down, climbed into her Mother's lap, while Angela clung tightly to Leonard,

Anne initially tried to engage Penny in conversation, but Penny's replies were monosyllabic at best, and after a while Anne gave up, wondering what was going on between Leonard and Penny, then, to her obvious relief her Husband Adam emerged from the kitchen and after he was introduced by Anne, he asked the couple which wine they would prefer to drink, Penny decided on the Moselle, and Adam poured them all a glass each. Then inevitably Leonard and Anne began talking about Physics, while Adam immediately noticing Penny's acute discomfort asked if she would like to see some of his latest jewelry designs. And though normally enthusiastic over any pieces of jewelry, Penny, still carrying April rose, and disinterestedly followed him over to his desk on which some samples of pendants and bracelets were laid out.

Adam began explaining the different designs but when he looked up at Penny, Penny was sadly looking in the other direction at Leonard, and Anne.

"Are you OK?", Adam asked her.

Penny sighed and moved April up a little, "Yeah, I guess", she replied, feeling left out.

"Doesn't that bother you?", Penny finally asked, then added "they seem so excited talking together, that I, well I".

"Feel isolated?", Adam offered.

"Yes, that's it isolated, I just so want to share his passion, and I find it hard that he doesn't seem interested in including me", Penny confessed, her tears already beginning to appear.

"Have you tried getting Leonard to explain them to you?", Adam asked her.

Penny nodded.

"Well like yourself, I wanted to know everything my wife was interested in, after all everyone wants to get closer to the one they love, don't they, but like you I had very little understanding of sub atomic particles, neutrons, electrons, Higgs Bosons and they just made my head spin, so I got Anne to explain it all to me a little piece at a time then as I learned each little piece by heart, I put them all together until I get the complete picture, sure it is a little slow but then it enables me to share Anne's interest and I feel much closer to her, as a result", Adam explained.

Penny's eyes opened wide in hope as this simple solution struck her, after all hadn't she learned much about the stars from Leonard as he would explain one constellation at a time, she knew that the star Rigel was in the constellation of Orion, (when one night the DVD choice was Leonard's, and they watched the movie 'Stargate' together, She knew the Pleiades, or seven sisters were in the constellation of Taurus, she knew how to find the pole star, and that the Horse head nebula was a giant cloud of dust and gas, That works, and for the first time since before the restaurant, Penny smiled.

"I see you like that idea, and don't worry I've been watching them, the only love between my Wife and your Husband is the love of Physics", Adam told her, smiling.

And Penny turned to look at Leonard and smiled, "I know", she said, feeling elated that she had learned an answer to her problem.

Though Leonard was still greatly at fault for his failure to reveal to her about his paper, Penny decided, she did not want her husband to learn anything else to please her as he had with the massage tuition. No Penny wanted her husband with her, not away from her. Nope, he can take me out for a romantic movie and a meal instead, and after that the dinner was a much happier affair for Penny, who was even more thrilled when Adam gave her a Pendant from his newest range, just to cheer her up.

And once they were back at Kay's beach house Penny had a long talk with Leonard, and ordered him to never ever fail to share anything about his career again, and also informed him they would be having a date night tomorrow, as Anne had kindly given Penny the number of a local babysitter, and snuggling up to Leonard she as she imagined their date tomorrow evening, fell fast asleep, leaving Leonard to impress upon himself how much it had pained him knowing he had hurt the love of his life, then he fervently prayed that he may never hurt Penny again.