Chapter 23
The Letter.
Penny reluctantly relinquished her comfortable position snuggled closely against her husband, as they sunbathed together, and went inside to get them all a drink, fruit juice for the girls and beer for Leonard and herself. In spite of the little hiccup at the start of their holiday, due to Penny's insecurities. Things were really going great now, the girls if they were not chasing each other were taking turns to bury each other in the sand, or they would be playing in the small pool on the back of the beach house. And all now were thoroughly enjoying their holiday. Though Penny still felt guilty at her overreaction at the restaurant, though Penny guessed it stemmed back to her mental breakdown she had when she thought she had lost Leonard due to his car crash. And now it seemed that Penny's need for her husband seemed to be greater than most married couples, and she had never told Leonard but when he wasn't with her, it would always feel as if something important was missing and Penny just felt uncomfortable without him. Often she would struggle to cope with everyday life, and absolutely hated it when Leonard had to work long hours, or that time when he was working during the night, Man!, that was really tough on her, and if it wasn't for her Daughters asleep in their beds, Penny would have gone to him quite easily, 'Nope, I just can't help it. I have such a craving for my Leonard', she admitted to herself.
She got the girls drinks and the two beers and was just returning to the beach when to her utter astonishment there came the familiar sound of, "knock knock knock Leonard, knock knock knock Leonard, knock knock knock Leonard", she grabbed her robe and tied around her and opened the door.
"Sheldon!, how did you find out where we were?", Penny asked him, but was totally ignored by Sheldon. "Where's Leonard?", Sheldon asked her.
"He's out there on the beach", Penny replied.
"The Beach?", Sheldon asked her incredulously, then continued, "Is he mad," then to himself, "Oh Leonard you just do not merit this high honour at all".
"What high honour, ", Penny asked him.
"He's been offered the Chair of physics at Cambridge University," Sheldon explained.
"What on earth do we want with a chair?," Penny puzzled.
"Really it's no wonder you could only get a job waiting on tables, and even then you couldn't do that job properly," Sheldon told her condescendingly.
"Hey!", Penny told him feeling quite insulted.
"Though I think they have made a serious mistake, it was obviously meant for me, but they simply got the wrong name. Now then if you could manage to fetch Leonard so he can let them know their error then I can make my travel plans for England, as if they would really offer it to Leonard in the first place" Sheldon demanded, then chuckled at their mistake of offering it to his former room mate.
"What's this all about Sheldon?", Leonard asked him, feeling annoyed that Sheldon Cooper could not even let him have a holiday in peace".
"Well yesterday you received a letter offering you the Chair of Physics at Cambridge University, except it should have been me, as they have clearly got the name totally wrong, so if you would kindly let them know their mistake then the sooner I can make plans to leave for England, I mean your I.Q. Is so much lower than my own so it is so obvious that it should have been me shouldn't it," Sheldon told him fully expecting Leonard to heartily agree.
"Sheldon!, it has my address on it, how did you get this letter?", Leonard demanded of him.
But the answer came from Penny, "I had asked Amy to check on our house while we were away".
"That's right, I accompanied Amy to your house and spied this letter in your mailbox, so I can only assume they thought I had moved there too", Sheldon explained.
"Is Amy with you?,", Penny asked.
"No, She was busy with something or other, probably not important", Sheldon replied. Then added, "So Leonard if you think you could ring about 03:00 AM here, then it will be 11:00 AM in England there and explain their silly mistake, Then I can start making my travel plans and allow for any contingencies."
"Supposing it is me they are offering the chair too?", Leonard asked him, starting to feel more than a little annoyed at Sheldon's arrogance.
"Why Leonard?," then turning to Penny, "He's such a card isn't he, it so makes up for his deficiency in the brain department doesn't it?", he asked her, firmly believing that Leonard was making a joke.
"The only joke that's here is you," Leonard, told him, by now losing his grip on his temper. "Tell me, When did I tell you what my I.Q. Was?", Leonard asked Sheldon.
"it was on the day I interviewed you as a possible tenant", Sheldon answered.
"yeah, I did because I quickly realized what a nut job you were, and if I gave you the true figure I knew you couldn't handle the fact that I am smarter than you, so I lied,", Then turning to Penny, "It was the only room I'd seen that I could afford at the time, so I was pretty desperate,", he explained.
"you wouldn't!", Sheldon yelled.
"I most certainly did Sheldon, I lied. In fact My I.Q. Is actually 198, So Buddy FYI there is no mistake, now then, perhaps you'll be so kind as to closing the door on your way out, and I will send a copy of my Mensa certificate, and by all means, feel free to hack whatever you like to check it out".
Sheldon's face had then turned white with rage and without further ado he threw the letter at Leonard, then turned on his heel and left".
"Why are they sending you a chair though," Penny puzzled.
"It's not a literal chair Penny, No, they are in fact offering me a position as tenured professor to head their Physics department," Leonard explained.
"OH!,", Penny exclaimed, feeling a little foolish.
"How did he know where Kay's beach house was?", she asked Leonard, quickly changing the subject.
"Oh I should think he probably hacked the governments computers to find the address of Kay's beach house. And you know Sheldon, he would have had no qualms whatsoever in going through all of Kay's personal documentation online in the interests of advancing science", Leonard guessed, then bent to pick up the letter.
"Can I see it", Penny asked Leonard.
Leonard handed Penny the letter and she began to read.
"Wow, Leonard this is such a big deal isn't it," she correctly assumed.
Yeah, Pretty much, they are one of the top Universities in the world after all, as well as one of the oldest", Leonard explained then grabbing the drinks, he headed back to check on his Daughters.
Penny read the letter again, 'Wow!, A top university is offering Leonard a position to head their Physics department, Anne Hathaway squeals her delight at seeing him, and then hangs on his every word. 'My God, I've been listening to Sheldon Cooper for too long, My husband is an absolute rock star in the world of Physics, and It has never really occurred to me, Wow!,', she repeated.
And then her quandary began, she really wanted to support her Leonard to the hilt in his career , but moving to England?, the girls are settled and doing very well in school, I might be able to do interior design in England I guess, but I'll have to give up the comedy series," Then Penny thought of her house, and that she would be leaving her lovely home, her tears began to fall, "I won't be able to see the Jacaranda tree mature", and then Penny fled, threw herself on the bed and wept in broken hearted anguish.
"Hey, Hey?, why all the tears?", Leonard asked her, as he had returned to see where Penny had got to and heard her crying, then he added, "You know full well what an arrogant jerk Sheldon can be at times, It shouldn't upset you now?", He told her, completely misinterpreting the reason for her distress.
Penny hurled herself into his arms, "It's not Sheldon, It's just that I so want to support you in your career, really I do, but I don't know if I could let our house go", She sniffed.
"Penny I've got no intention of taking them up on their offer, we are not moving to England", Leonard told her, "besides I love our house too", he added.
"But what about your career?", Penny asked, though not without Leonard's notice that a sudden hope had appeared in her eyes.
"Penny, though my career is very important to me yes, but my family will always have the utmost priority in any decision I make. And I can't see how living in England will be advantageous to us at all", then added, "I'm sorry, I should have told you that a long time ago", Leonard told her.
"You did sweetie, just before your accident, I guess you don't remember it", Penny told him sadly, as she saw the vivid image of her Leonard wired up to drips and sensors through the windows of the doors of the ICU, and shuddered at the awful memory.
They returned to join their Daughters, and a much happier Penny snuggled back down against her husband and kissed him.
"I just thought, it seems that I'm not the only one who overthinks things am I?", Leonard told her.
"No sweetie, but I bet I caught it from you though", She replied.
After an hour laying in the sun the family went back to 'Geoffrey's' for some lunch.
And as they were eating, a sudden thought hit Penny.
"Do you think Sheldon will be telling everyone about the injustice that's been visited upon him?, Penny asked Leonard.
"Yep, I can Guarantee it, Oh wow!, am I glad I'm here on vacation," Leonard confessed, then added, "I'd better ring them and tell them I will not be taking them up on their offer, as who knows what turmoil it might send Dr Gablehauser to" Leonard said, half to himself.
Penny did not answer at first. For she had that faraway look in her eyes as though she was planning something.
Then after five minutes, "Hang on sweetie, let's not be hasty now, what do you think might happen if you let them think that you were giving it serious consideration?".
"Well, I guess they might offer me more mon..., hey!, now that's sneaky", Leonard said realizing her plan.
"No Leonard it is not, didn't you tell me once at that last fundraising event, how more people than ever had signed up to give financial support to the university as they were so impressed with that cute Hofstadter family and did you not also tell me that the prestige you earned by being selected to go on Stephen Hawking's venture to find Unruh radiation? Which also drew in quite a bit of money for the University. And I may add resulting in me having to suffer greatly for three months without you", Penny reminded him, the tears already springing to her eyes at the memory of the awful three months of loneliness without Leonard.
For Penny though the money was not important, as they were quite comfortably off without needing more, No, she wanted them to appreciate her, as Anne called him, her genius husband, and give him the respect for his work he deserves. Respect that Penny was also working hard to acquire, as Leonard, after Penny's upset in the restaurant had been receiving some lessons in physics from Leonard, as they would lay on the beach and Leonard would draw diagrams in the sand, to help her understand the basics. And that was another thing with Leonard the wonderful patient way he would teach, and also in a manner that made it easy for Penny to understand, 'My God my man is so absolutely wonderful, but then again I am rather biased after all' Penny giggled as she meditated on Leonard's qualities, "And best of all, He loves me", she thought to herself, as a huge smile appeared on her face as she looked at her husband.
Leonard doubted that Penny's idea would work . But the next Monday afternoon, Leonard's cell rang as the family had a pleasant stroll together along the shoreline, "Dr Gablehauser, yes sir I received a letter from them last week, well I don't know sir, you see Penny's spent the last day or two looking at houses for sale in England on the net?," Leonard told him, delivering the line Penny had taught him to say the other day.
"How much?, well that's a very generous offer Sir, I'll have to think about it, though Penny will be disappointed,", Leonard told him as Penny acted out a mime to Leonard of herself crying. "OK sir that's very kind, yes I'm sure it will help me to think, thank you sir, we are all enjoying our holiday immensely,", Leonard told him, then after saying goodbye Leonard ended the call, feeling utterly astonished at how easy Penny's plan went.
"Well?, What did he say?", Penny demanded, as she hopped excitedly from one foot to another, well they have offered me a pay rise of 50%, and I am to take an extra two weeks holiday to think about it", Leonard told her, still numb from the shock of Dr Gablehauser speaking to him in a manner as if he was the most valued PHD they have ever had.
"See, I told you so. Who's the Genius now Hofstadter", Penny asked him triumphantly.
"You are my love,", he admitted. Then taking her in his arms he gave her a most passionate kiss to the accompaniment of a chorus of Eeewws, from their three Daughters.
Then Leonard added they are willing to pay for everything, for us to stay for those extra two weeks, at the Malibu Inn. Penny squealed with delight, for finally her Leonard was receiving the respect he so thoroughly deserved, as well as looking forward to her sharing the hotel suite bath with Leonard.
