Chapter 28

Oh! to be in England

Leonard was in a dilemma, He had been invited to give a discourse on his latest Paper, which had generated a great deal of interest among the esteemed members of the international scientific community, at a week long international conference being held at Cambridge University, beginning in a months time,

For Dr Gablehauser had strongly stressed to Dr Hofstadter the prestige and funding that Cal-Tech could gain from his speaking at the conference due to the many top physicists that would be attending.

Also Leonard shuddered at the thought of how the asst head of the physics dept, a one Dr Sheldon Cooper would be sure to react, and no doubt at very great length, inform Leonard of his displeasure, if Leonard, dared to put Penny before His (Sheldon's) departments need of funding.

Later, as Leonard drove home on auto-pilot feeling torn in two. on the one hand he knew if he was away from Penny and the girls for a whole week, He would find it very hard to bear indeed, especially as he had seen so little of her lately.
But on the other hand so many people were dependent on the large funding that would be generated for the university if he went.

And recent events had somewhat overtaken the couple, not only from Penny's scare.

But also due to the gradual fall off of the viewing figures of the comedy series.

Therefore the producer decided to have Penny added to the regular cast, as Penny's character, being quite popular with the audience, could well push the viewing figures up again, and the decision was made to gradually increase Penny's character into the story line. And now due to spending more time at the studio, Penny found that increasingly she was spending less and less time with her Husband and her Daughters, Penny had, for as long as she could remember, craved the success an acting career would give her, but now she felt as if she was being pulled away from the ones she held most dear and Penny was also hurting as a result that Leonard had so far not communicated to her,over his feelings at seeing less of his wife.

And at that, Penny immediately assumed that Leonard had somehow grown to like seeing less of Penny, which as a result often made her short tempered with him. and so Leonard was beginning to wonder if Penny had stars in her eyes and now craved a totally different lifestyle than her life now as it is with Leonard, while Penny fretted that Leonard was deliberately distancing himself from her, with the result that both of them were unhappy.

As a result of Penny's anguish and despite strong pressure from the studio and her own agent, Penny had held off signing a new contract, As Penny strongly felt she really needed some time to get her head round this awful problem, but she found she seemed to have so little time to do so.

Fortunately earlier that day she was able to have a quiet word with her dear friends Kay and J.G. over Penny's unhappiness.

Kay informed her that J.G. had been offered the part of 'Q' in the new Bond film, and was therefore not renewing his contract with the studio, Kay also expressed her doubts at the Producer's attempt to raise audience figures as it seemed to Kay that He was just clutching at straws, no disrespect to Penny but it wouldn't work as Kay felt that the comedy had just run it's course, besides which there were rumours going around lately that the network was about to pull the plug. "So my dear Penny, there are only three more episodes left of this current run. So take my advice, Go on a little holiday with your Leonard, believe me Penny, I have been watching you, and girl, I think you really need a nice break with your dear Husband you so often talk about.

And Penny as soon as she heard Kay's advice, immediately felt extremely relieved, as at last she had found someone who knew Penny well, and had come to the same conclusion, that Penny had already thought out herself earlier, and now Penny decided that she too would quit after the present series had ended,

As after all, when all's said and done, Acting and fame was great. But her Leonard was worth so much more to her. And at this she smiled, "And now finally, I can have a chance to turn things around", and at that her heart leaped inside her with sudden happiness.

Leonard sighed as he turned into his drive, and braced himself, ready for a very irate Penny hitting the roof when he tells her his news.

On entering his house, Leonard did his usual task of checking through his daughters homework and helping them to understand the cited problem if they have had some difficulty, fortunately for his daughters they took after Leonard for academic ability so his help was not often needed.

Meanwhile Penny, as she busily prepared the evening meal for them all, was mulling over how she could break the news to Leonard over her decision to quit, and wondered what his reaction would be, when he heard her decision to quit.
Penny called them all for dinner. And while they ate, she related to him first though, how her day had gone. But unusually for Leonard he seemed preoccupied and only answered her in monosyllables. Finally for Penny it was just too much, and she lost her patience with him ( which didn't take Penny long ), and asked outright what was up or was he too busy thinking about someone else, and if that was the case," and at this point Penny suddenly screamed at him hysterically, "that Leonard had better watch out for his life".

Leonard though, already agonizing over how to tell Penny about the conference in England, felt his own anger blaze", For God's sake Penny, you are the only woman in my life, and you are the only woman I will ever want in my life, but I hardly see you lately. And then when I do see you, you are always angry with me. I'm sorry Penny but I just can't take this anymore. I've tried hard to be supportive of your career, but this! This is just too much, I want to see more of you, be with you, and now, if that wasn't bad enough, I've been invited to speak at a week long conference in England.

And I know darn well in myself, that I couldn't bear to go without you, but the university is dependent on the large funding it would gain if I went, as Dr Gablehauser told me at great length, that a lot of people are dependent upon that funding for their research, and I just don't know what to do, honey, I'm sorry, to bring this up, but I do love you so much, and I have tried so hard to support you in your career, really I have, but I don't know what to do, or how I can continue to give my support when it means I hardly see you?", and to Penny's utter horror, Leonard burst into tears because of the emotional strain he had been under.

Penny at once rushed to comfort her husband, as already her own tears were beginning to flow. "It's OK Leonard "We'll all go with you, she declared, hugging him close to her.

"Honey we can't very well take the girls out of school for a whole week", Leonard reminded her.

"Good idea we will go for three weeks then we can have a little holiday too", Penny said, "and after all it will be educational for the girls too", she said brightening visibly at her own suggestion.

"Penny! But what if", Leonard began but was cut off by Penny's no nonsense glare at him "It's settled Leonard, Also I am quitting the series, I so wished my darling that you had said something earlier, But I too am not happy with my life right now".

Penny continued, "The increasing amount of time, that I am spending away from you, well Honey, it's hurting me too, hurting us. I thank you for wishing to see me be successful in my acting career, but I categorically refuse to let it tear us apart like this

"So we'll All go my Darling". And that was that.

And despite the fact his Daughters will not be at school for three weeks, Leonard felt deliriously happy at the fact his beloved Penny, as well as his daughters would be going with him.

Leonard confirmed his intention to attend the conference, to the great delight of Dr Gablehauser, while Sheldon was already writing his list of requirements for Dr Gablehauser to immediately rubber stamp, (Sheldon as usual assuming that any given approval would be a mere formality), while Penny spent all her free time on the net looking at sites to visit I:E. Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace and for Penny, Oxford street and Carnaby street and also Portobello road. And trying to get her head round the exchange rate between dollars and pounds.

Penny had been able to obtain the necessary permission for the girls to be taken out of school for the trip to England by informing the Pelican, the girls Headmaster, Dr Peregrine Leyton' Jones PhD, that their own father, Dr Leonard Hofstadter PhD will be able to teach them according to their individual curriculum while they're away. (if he has time that is. Penny thought to herself, and unlike Leonard, not being too overly concerned over her conscience regarding her Daughters education).

When Beverley Hofstadter was told about the England trip, though she said nothing to Leonard or Penny, her eyes betrayed her sadness at not being able to see her beloved granddaughters for over three weeks, as Beverley loved to come round twice a week to see them, or they would go to see her, Penny smiled inside she could do with an extra hand with her girls and it will certainly give Leonard and herself more time to be together.

And Penny was determined to be there for Leonard's speech but knew the conference would be filled to capacity and it would be unlikely that her girls would be allowed to join the delegates in the audience. and here was a willing babysitter and close friend she could trust.

"Would you like to go with us Beverley", Penny asked her.
Beverley's broad smile answered her.

'Good', thought Penny, now all I have to do is get Leonard to add one more when he books the flights. And when Penny told the girls they squealed their delight that Grandma Beverley was going too.

In spite of Penny's optimism, Leonard was doubtful, The flights would be no problem but the hotel could be, With nearly 600 eminent delegates attending, the hotels in Cambridge would be pretty full, and the conference organizers were only booking for the delegates, so Leonard prepared himself for a long time on laptop and phone and settled himself in his chair then after an hour without result had to move laptop and phone for Penny to sit on his lap for a much missed cuddle.

Leonard explained to her about the difficulty with finding a hotel and Penny suggested staying in a pub as she remembered a waitress at the cheesecake factory who went for a romantic break with her husband and they stayed in a lovely old thatched pub in Hampshire? or was it Yorkshire?, Penny couldn't quite remember. "I'm sure you'll find something", she said to Leonard, smiling her encouragement.

Leonard did not want to sound churlish by pointing out that her friend had only needed to book for two, whereas he was booking for six, so he tried for another half an hour looking at pubs before luckily finding rooms in a public house in a little village just outside of Duxford a small town a few miles from Cambridge.

The plan was that when they landed at Gatwick they would take a minibus taxi which would then take them to their lodgings at Duxford, But though their flights arrived on time the M25 known unofficially as the biggest car lot in England was true to form today, As due to a bad collision involving an articulated lorry and two cars that had occurred near Junction 25, had blocked two lanes of the anti-clockwise direction so that they were stuck for some time on the M25 (Angela's jokey comment "that that was bound to happen if they drive on the wrong side of the road as they do here", received a hard stare from the driver, much to the embarrassment of Penny, who also gave her daughter a hard look.

But what made it worse was that the elderly driver who although being a bit dotty and the father in law of the taxi firm owner, was standing in for a driver who was off sick.

He was also a dedicated fan of the old Music hall acts of years ago and insisted on singing some of the songs as he drove. ( Even years later Penny could still remember a line from one song he insisted on singing a few times "Wiv a ladder and some glasses you can see the 'ackney marshes if it wasn't fer the 'ouses in between") .

Therefore to say they reached The Rose & Crown with relief after 3 and a half hours of the drivers renditions would be an understatement.

The interior of the Rose & Crown was not much different from any other public house in England, wooden tables and chairs and a dartboard on one wall opposite the bar.

They were shown to their rooms by the landlord, Mike ( a retired fireman from Leyton in London's east end) and on entering they all collapsed into bed completely and utterly exhausted.

The next morning they unpacked, and that afternoon while Beverley explored a little of the English countryside as well as the local store, with the girls, who were absolutely delighted with the large bars of Cadbury's dairy milk chocolate their gran had purchased for them. Leonard and Penny meanwhile, walked hand in hand up to the bar and tried the English beer. It was a strange sight indeed for it was Penny who was holding the pint mug of London Pride bitter, while Leonard held only a half pint glass of the same.

And after Penny had consumed 4 pints of London's best, Leonard helped a, by now, very tipsy and still jet lagged Penny up to their room.

They lay on the bed and Penny despite her slight inebriation relished having her husband by her side and turned to lay on top of her soulmate, who was just at that moment thinking to himself that things were getting very interesting, when Penny began to snore loudly in his right ear. So he gently moved her to the side of the bed and dozed while holding his wife close to him.

At 7:15 That evening Leonard awoke and on finding Penny still deep in the land of nod, went downstairs to the bar where he saw that Beverley and his girls were already eating at one of the tables in the corner. So he went to the bar and ordered a coffee from the barmaid who Leonard learned later was Mike's 21 year old niece, Andrea, who was studying Physics at Cambridge university and working as a part time barmaid in her Uncle's pub. And on her discovery that this was The Dr Leonard Hofstadter PhD, who had not only worked with Hawking on the North Sea expedition to find evidence of Unruh radiation , but had also been invited to speak at the international conference on his latest paper. Which currently had all and everyone associated with physics very excited indeed.

And thus so impressed was she, that she then proceeded to flirt outrageously with him.

So this therefore was the scene that greeted Penny when she finally surfaced.

Penny manfully controlled herself from over reacting and going over and slapping the bitches face hard and just stood and observed for a while.

It quickly became quite apparent to Penny that Leonard was at first, totally unaware that he was being flirted with and when he did finally realize the situation he was in, Penny was pleased to note the look of extreme discomfort that had replaced the friendly one on his face, and Penny took it as her signal to intervene.

At the sight of his wife Leonard's face lit up with a huge smile, a mixture somewhat of relief and happiness on seeing the one he loved most of all, leading Penny to observe to herself 'He didn't smile like that at you, did he you bitch', "Hi Honey", she said to Leonard, as she kissed him in greeting. "Hi Penny, are you feeling a bit better?", Leonard asked her holding her tightly against him.

"Much better now sweetie, thank you", she said hugging him back.

"Penny, I'd like to introduce you to Andrea,Mike's niece. She's also studying physics at Cambridge university".

"Hi Andrea pleased to meet you", Penny said thankful that Leonard's special smile towards her had enabled her to smile at Andrea, without too much of a strain on Penny's part.

"What would you like to eat?", Leonard asked her, handing her the menu.

"I'll have a coffee first, that beer is much stronger than I thought. And I'll have the steak and ale pie please honey" she replied, then looking round for a table she picked one near her daughters and sat down.

Leonard gave his order to Andrea after selecting the pie for himself too and sat down with Penny and watched his daughters as they ate their dessert..

Andrea brought their meals over with two coffees and they began to eat.

"What was the green stuff, it was delicious?", Penny asked Andrea when they had finished their dinner.

"they're Brussels tops, just like you have just discovered, I always think they're a lot tastier than cabbage, yet they are hard to get sometimes". Penny wondered at her, why such a beautiful young girl would want to flirt with Leonard, Penny just could not understand, so Penny carefully asked her "I understand you've heard about my husband?".

"Oh yes indeed", Andrea's eyes opened wide with excitement , "he's an absolute genius, I've read all about his work especially on the Hawking expedition, and his latest paper, Wow!. You must be very proud of him?", she said her eyes shining in hero worship.

"Oh yes, Leonard is the best, in many ways", Penny replied reminded somehow of how Alex had that same look in her eyes over Leonard over fifteen years ago. Though Penny did love Leonard she could not understand how this girl could act toward him as if he was one of those pop stars that Penny used to collect the posters of and hung them all over her bedroom wall when she was a teenager living in Nebraska. It was certainly most peculiar indeed and Penny just could not get her head round it, fortunately she could trust Leonard, but this girl needs watching she thought. "but then again did not Leonard have Anne Hathaway hanging on his every word, but only because of her love of physics, rather than any physical attraction to Leonard, so Andrea might just be the same, having a great love of physics?.

The next day Sunday, it was, to use a local expression, chucking it down. So a planned trip to London was postponed till the next weekend as the conference would be starting tomorrow. So the Hofstadter family spent a rather boring day cooped up at the Rose & Crown, the only bright spot being that Andrea had gone home for a couple of days. so Penny taught Leonard how to throw darts without breaking the window behind him, while Beverley played domino's with the girls, then Penny joined the four domino players for the afternoon, while Leonard went over the schedule for the conference next week and also to go over his speech which he would present on the Friday afternoon.
As Penny and the others wrapped up their domino's game, Andrea then appeared back at the pub in high dudgeon, as Penny overheard her talking to Mike, apparently she had got near to St Albans, when the head gasket blew on her car and it had to be towed back to the Rose and Crown by the RAC (they had suggested towing her to the nearest garage but the repair would cost over £800 ($1200) and Andrea just could not afford it.

Penny though was a little disconcerted by Andrea's reappearance, but judging by the yellow flashing lights coming through the window from the breakdown lorry in the process of unloading Andrea's car outside, it seemed Andrea was speaking the truth and not just trying to get close to Leonard, but Penny would still be watching her carefully, just in case. Penny, now a woman over 40 years of age and also after bearing three children, possessed a fuller figure than she did back in the days when living at 4b 2011 Los Robles and was therefore feeling rather insecure thanks to Andrea, the exact same insecurity she had felt with Anne, Alex, Priya, Oh yeah and Mandy and this in spite of Leonard showing no interest in the girl at all.

Monday morning dawned bright and sunny and the Taxi arrived to take Leonard to the conference at 07:30 AM, Penny, feeling somewhat sad at not having her Leonard with her today, decided that she would go to London as well as next weekend and planned to look at the shops down Oxford street with Beverley, just to cheer herself up.

And perhaps they could also take the girls on the London Eye into the bargain.

They took a Taxi to the railway station and caught a train for Kings Cross Station, then on the tube to Oxford street station, where Penny and Beverley indulged in some retail therapy (which even Beverley highly recommended for stress relief).

Then they were dragged by the girls into 'Next'( they had been told by Andrea yesterday that all the cool clothes were in this place) Penny noted that some of the clothes seemed a little skimpy, very short skirts, tiny crop tops so she warned the girls not to bother picking out any of those, (hoping no one would tell her daughters, that these were the very clothes that Penny liked to wear when she was a young woman). and after costing Penny a small fortune they left for the London eye when Honey Marie unthinkingly,looked right instead of left, as she was used to in the USA, in order to cross the road and stepped out in front of a double decker bus, the bus with screeching brakes eventually stopped just four inches away from Honey Marie who was paralyzed with fear.

Penny screamed at the top of her voice, her pallor turned as white as a sheet, and so sure that her daughter would be killed and went into hysterics, and had to be taken to a nearby Cafe Nero, for Beverley to try to calm Penny down mindful of Penny's previous psychiatric history over Leonard and over an hour had elapsed before Penny felt able to continue.

But Beverley took one look at Penny, and decided that it would be better if they made their way back to Cambridgeshire.

And on their return Beverley was proved right as Penny, still in great shock, had to lie down in her room.

When Leonard returned that evening on hearing from his Mother how distressed Penny had got. He immediately went upstairs to her and finding her asleep, but still looking rather pale he lay down with her holding her tight hoping that Penny would not have a recurrence of the breakdown that she had all those years ago.

Downstairs too, Honey Marie was upset at causing her mother such distress and was still quite tearful unable to eat much of her dinner that evening, in spite of Beverley comforting her by telling her "you just forgot to look in the other direction sweetie, that's all", (adopting Penny's usual way of addressing people),

Penny to Beverley's concern, was still looking quite pale and had been so badly affected emotionally, that she was unable to go anywhere for a couple of days. And Honey Marie also was still quite despondent in spite of her Mother giving her the biggest hug ever and told her everything was alright, though Honey Marie could not fail to notice how pale her mother looked.

Penny insisted firmly that Leonard must go to the conference despite his determination to stay with Penny, (Penny could be quite stubborn when she wanted to be, even now, when she wanted so very much for Leonard to stay with her.)

On Wednesday, while Penny quietly sat in her room reading. Beverley took the girls to a local wood and picnic area after previously buying them a football (Soccer) for them to have a kick around before a picnic afterwards. Then later the girls were absolutely fascinated by the appearance of a hungry hedgehog who although normally nocturnal, had been unable to find much food during the night and was hoping for some better luck this morning. They then spent the rest of the afternoon picking flowers mainly daisies, buttercups and dandelions and April found some small purple flowers with a yellow center on a tall stem to add to her collection, after which they took their flowers back to the pub.

On showing them to Andrea she then warned them that the little purple flowers were deadly nightshade which was highly poisonous and after throwing it into the fireplace onto the fire, she scrubbed April's hands for her to remove any toxins that might still be on her skin. then later she took the girls ( borrowing her uncles car) to MacDonald's as it was usually quiet in the pub on Wednesday evenings, while Beverley went to check on Penny.

Leonard although the subject being discussed by the speaker was interesting, still found it very difficult to concentrate as Penny despite her firm insistence that he must still attend the conference was still only speaking to them mainly in monosyllables with that strange distant look in her eyes, Leonard really believed that Penny was recovered from all that but it seems when either himself or his Daughters were in danger then Penny seemed still unable to cope emotionally when these occasions arose, So after deciding to talk to his mother for some advice that evening, Leonard tried once again to concentrate on the speaker but with the growing feeling of wanting to be with his wife.

Leonard returned to find Penny much improved and as she explained it, "I had been to a very scary place and the thought kept running through my mind, what if the bus hadn't braked and it seems my mind needed a bit of a rest for a little while to recover, but I feel much better now honey", she told him while hugging him tightly to reassure him. And thus feeling very much relieved Leonard led her downstairs to join Beverley for their evening meal together.

Later while Penny was settling the girls down, Beverley explained her theory to Leonard concerning Penny's problem.

"I originally thought that Penny's emotional state was due to her being unique in that in craving love and affection she tried to find it by getting close to all those guys, only for them to maltreat and abuse her.

But now it seems for longer than Penny herself could remember, I suspect she has always been hypersensitive to emotional pain, just as people suffer from chronic pain syndrome in a physical way, hence the emotional barrier she erects to protect herself from that pain, then when she met you she became afraid that because of her love for you, there was a danger that you were able to pass through that barrier and reach that sensitive center and possibly causing her the great anguish that she was trying to shield herself from. Therefore she kept you at arms length, not daring to let you get too close to her, However the time came that her love for you became so great, she had no choice but to allow you to get closer, only to receive enormous pain in her emotional center when she thought she had lost you through your car crash. And as you well know, It was so painful for her, she just could not cope with her anguish, and retreated inside herself with her memories of you to hide from the pain. And now she has your three daughters who have also penetrated that barrier because of her great maternal love for them, so when Honey Marie came so close to being killed, Penny again could not cope with the pain and although she did not enter that protective world in her mind, she still had to withdraw from the world for a little while.".

"So what can I do? tell me please, how can I help her?", Leonard pleaded with her.

"The mind is a complex thing Leonard," Beverley began, and feeling hurt as she saw the pained anguished look on her sons face due to his fear for his wife, " and we can't prevent every incident just as you could not prevent yours, in fact to quote King Solomon, 'Time and unexpected events happen to us all'.

All you can do is give Penny lots of love and support when these events occur, and as you well know your Penny, she would absolutely hate for you to wrap her up in cotton wool.

"Yes you're right there, Penny is fiercely determined to stand on her own two feet like everyone else, but I just find it so hard to see her hurting like that", Leonard replied trying now without success to hold back the tears.

" I had for a long time refused to believe in the absurdity that two people could be described as made for each other

But I have been forced to acknowledge that in yours and Penny's case this is true, Penny greatly needs your love and in turn this would give you a great power to cause her pain, but I well know that you would rather die than ever cause her hurt", She then added, "do you remember when I told you that your Father and I had a good deal more going for us than you two?", Leonard nodded.

"Well it seems I was so wrong, I have never seen a stronger bond between two people than I see between Penny and yourself", Beverley told him truthfully.

Beverley then hugged her son, so proud of him, that despite her foolishness in the way that she had raised him, she had to admit, Leonard had turned out to be a very fine caring human being.

Again in spite of Leonard insisting he would stay with Penny, Penny was even more determined for Leonard to go to the conference, even though she would not admit to feeling so vulnerable without Leonard beside her. So while Penny continued to rest, Beverley hired an MPV for the day and as Beverley was afraid to try driving on the right, she paid Andrea to drive for the day and they took the girls to Audley End, where a miniature railway ran through the woods with some fairy trails for younger ones to follow near Saffron Walden in Essex. (The three girls liked the train and the woods but turned their noses up at the fairy trails feeling that they were far too grown up for such nonsense).

Penny became bored with just sitting in her room reading and decided to take a short stroll outside where from a lock-up garage she found Mike in the process of repairing Andrea's car. At first they shared some small talk while Mike drained the coolant, soon, it was as though Penny was back at the farm in Nebraska helping her Dad to fix tractors as she removed the alternator, then after unbolting it, she pulled the inlet manifold clear and then passed Mike the spanners for him to remove the exhaust manifold before helping him, after removing the cylinder head bolts, to lift the cylinder head clear (after many taps with a mallet to free it from the engine block. After which Mike then cleaned himself up and took the cylinder head to an engineering workshop to be skimmed.

Penny cleaned her hands as well as she could with the aid of a jar of Swarfega before taking a bath and throwing her oil-stained clothes in the bin. But feeling so refreshed and rejuvenated from the experience despite the ache in her back and arms. (Although she was rather upset at the sight of her chipped and broken fingernails).

Leonard returned that evening, and to his utter delight, to a Penny bubbling over with excitement, rapidly telling him about her assistance in the removal of the cylinder head, to Mike telling her about stories of his grandfather as a fireman in London's East end during the Blitz.. and, as a young boy playing with other boys on a bomb site, when one youngster fell down an old cellar and broke his leg and became trapped. And a young Mike watched enthralled as the firemen pulled the youngster out of the cellar and then was carried into a waiting ambulance , and that was the day that Mike decided he wanted to be a fireman when he grew up.

After which Leonard took Penny out to a restaurant. Just for the two of them to enjoy some quality time together. (though Penny hoped not too many people in the restaurant had noticed her 'mechanics' hands, and also that she was bare legged having laddered two pairs of tights on her rough hands earlier while getting changed), during the meal Leonard admitted feeling guilty at his act of forcing Penny to quit her acting career.

But Penny reminded him, "do you remember the occasion, when I found out you had been invited on another expedition to find Unruh radiation, I lost my cool to a great degree over that, but you had turned it down because we were now your priority and you could not see how going on that expedition could possibly benefit Us", Penny explained, before adding, "well my darling I have only done the same as you, my acting career was hurting us and it had to go. So Leonard for both of us the Family Hofstadter has ultimate priority in every decision we make, so Honey, you did not force me to do anything, my family will always come first", and she took Leonard's hands in hers and smiled lovingly at him.

Leonard, on their return back to the pub, paid the taxi driver and included a tip and they walked together towards the Pub.

Leonard, became aware that Penny was holding his arm rather tightly, indeed more so than normal, and turning to her, and asked her if she was OK? Penny grew angry with him with his continual fussing and at the stricken look on his face began sobbing into his shoulder, Leonard said nothing but held her and stroked her hair till she stopped crying. "I'm sorry Honey", she said, "I do love you, it's just that I'm struggling with normality at the moment and you keep asking me if I'm alright keeps reminding me I am not", but inside Penny was also angry with herself for she knew full well, it was Leonard's gentle caring nature that made her fall in love with him in the first place

Penny threw her arms around him and began kissing him by way of an apology, but as usual for Penny it just triggered her need to feel his warmth, his skin on hers, even the aroma of his scent. suddenly Penny could not wait to get to her room, she badly needed Leonard inside her now, and they proceeded to make love against the wall outside. (They had continued their custom of not restricting their lovemaking to the bedroom believing that it kept their marriage fresh and alive, but even so, Penny was always very careful that they were never observed by others as Penny could never bear the embarrassment it would cause Leonard also their love was for them alone).

Andrea alerted by the strange noises outside her window (which Penny had failed to spot, it being in dark shadow) went to investigate and from her vantage point with the moonlight shining on him, she saw the utter look of adoration on Leonard's face as he moved back to look at his beautiful wife. Andrea realized at that very moment, that Leonard was totally and utterly in love with his wife, Penny.

Friday began with every promise of being a beautiful day, a day which normally Penny would be loathe to spend cooped up in a large assembly hall listening to scientists talking about things she still struggled to understand.

But today was the day Leonard would stand and deliver his discourse to top scientists from all over the world and Penny was determined to be there for him.

Beverley was looking after the girls for them, which made things so much easier for Penny to deal with emotionally, knowing that her daughters were with someone that she knew well and trusted.

The morning was just as Penny feared but she was able to bear it by holding Leonard's hand through most of the sessions, which always made her feel more secure and calmer in herself.

Then at 14:30 in the afternoon Leonard was mounting the platform steps to deliver his discourse.

Penny could barely contain her butterflies let alone keep still, although she still could only understand a quarter of what Leonard said, the fact that he was given a standing ovation for his address, told her Leonard had done very well indeed,

then Leonard took some questions and one Journalist covering the conference asked Leonard , "what has been your biggest inspiration Dr Hofstadter?".

In answer Leonard beckoned Penny to take her place at his side, which she proceeded to do and her tear filled eyes grew as wide as Andrea's as standing there on the platform being held tightly by Leonard in one arm, as he told the Journalist the fact that he could never have any success in his research if it wasn't for the support and inspiration of his beloved wife Penny, at which a whole host of eminent scientists applauded them both.