Chapter 38

Shy of Retiring?

The next Morning, Penny and Leonard rose early to wave the newlyweds as they left for their honeymoon at Lake McConaghy.

Though early as they were, it was no surprise to Penny to find Kay and J.G. also waiting to give their farewells, and the two, still a little tearful, women greeted each other with a warm hug and a smile.

Soon Chloe and Wyatt appeared with their cases and while the new couple said their goodbyes to Penny and Kay, as Leonard and J.G. put the couples cases in the trunk.

Soon Chloe and Wyatt were but a distant speck on the horizon, sadly Penny turned to Leonard and decided to choose that moment to share her fears with him, "I can't believe it, that's the last one gone now, What on earth will we do with ourselves now?, I mean the house won't feel the same at all now", Penny observed sadly, before beginning to weep.

Leonard immediately began to move towards his wife to comfort her, but was beaten to it by Kay, who had also came to the same conclusion.

After both the women had recovered their composure, Kay revealed her plans to Penny.

J.G. and I are going to move into a smaller house, you see, as the media is more interested in young actors like Wyatt and others, things have pretty much quietened down for J.G and myself, so we don't need to live in a gated community now. I hope you don't mind my not consulting you or Leonard. But We thought We would give the house to Wyatt and Chloe".

Penny was not at all put out, "But that's Wonderful. That way they won't be too far away, living at Tarzana", Penny told Kay excitedly, then added as her eyes opened wide in realization, "And with seven bedrooms...", Penny began.

"...They can fill them up with Grandchildren", Kay finished for her.

And both the faces of the two women lit up in a sort of dreamy fashion as they imagined holding lots of grandchildren.

XXXXXXX

On the plane home.

"I was just thinking over Kay and J.G's plans to move into a smaller place. Now our four have all grown up and left home, why don't we move somewhere smaller?", Leonard suggested.

"Yeah, I guess we could. Hey it could be just like we used to live together at the apartment in Los Robles", Penny remarked.

"Yeah, but only better, As there would be no Sheldon living there there too this time", Leonard reminded her.

"Oh my God, I had almost forgotten. You know I really really don't think I could cope with him now, at all. And we could get a place nearer our favourite beach", Penny suggested hopefully.

"Yeah I still love that place. I have such great memories from there", Leonard confessed.

"Just as long as one of those great memories isn't that day when you met Ann Hathaway?", Penny asked him with a slight edge to her voice.

"Not at all, I hurt you, and it will be something I will always regret, that I should have included you instead of giving you cause for concern, and no doubt you will also remember, she was only interested in Physics, and certainly not me. As I was only interested in you, not Ann", Leonard reminded her.

"Thank you sweetie, I know I was being silly, but somehow I just couldn't help feeling left out", Penny explained.

"Penny I love you, and all your little ways are what make you unique, and I love that about you. You know in a way it reminds me, how much you care for me, so no need to apologize, especially after all these years", Leonard summed up.

Bernadette who was sitting behind them with a sleeping Howard, then leaned forward and spoke to Penny, "and if he does it again Penny, let me know and I'll let him have it both barrels", she joked.

Penny turned to smile at her dearest friend, "Thank you, you are certainly my guardian angel", Penny told her.

Just then the air hostess approached with the drinks trolley and Penny's attention was then taken up by her glass of wine and her magazine.

XXXXXXX

By the time they reached home, The couple felt too tired to discuss moving and after a quick drink of relaxing hot chocolate together they headed for bed.

The next day as Penny loaded the breakfast things into the dishwasher, she remembered their conversation on the plane and began to think about the type of place she would like most. But as she gazed out her kitchen window at her garden, she spied the small mound which was where Norman her beloved dog was buried, at the ripe old age of 18. Suddenly for Penny, the garden became full of memories of the passing years, The Day Leonard planted the Jacaranda tree, while Penny was pregnant with Honey Marie and helped by giving Leonard instructions. The Day they opened the door and showed little Honey Marie the present of her Wendy house, She remembered Leonard and herself chorusing a cute "AWWW", at the sight of their little girl in her fluffy slippers, running down the path eager to start playing in it.

Then as one child playing in the garden became three, then four, as the twins Angela and April, and then later Wyatt arrived.

She studied the garden chairs under her tree, where Leonard and herself often enjoyed a chat and a coffee together.

And as her mind filled with the happy memories of Family and friends, Penny began to cry at the thought that they would soon be moving away.

Leonard, who at that moment had brought his empty coffee cup into the kitchen for a refill took one look at his wife's face and knew Penny was totally unable to say goodbye to their house and leave.

And it was somewhat of a relief too for Leonard. for he Himself, had had memories of a very excited Penny working hard to decorate their first house herself, the precious moments when Penny fell pregnant with the twins and Wyatt, the romantic dinners they often shared together once the children were asleep. The kids Parties, and dinners with close friends and family, and as the memories flowed, Leonard in that very moment, knew all too well, that he would not be able to leave here either.

"I've been thinking Honey, how could we put any of our kids, and grandkids up when they visit us, if we moved to a smaller place?, I wondered if it would be better if we stayed here instead", Leonard asked her.

Penny's only reply was to tearfully rush towards her husband and gratefully hug him tight, before kissing him passionately in gratitude. That evening they sat close together and revisited the precious memories, by looking through Penny,s photo album.

XXXXXXX

Penny's only occupation now, besides running the home, was working as Wyatt's agent and gradually the increased free time it left her began to bother her. For Leonard was still working five days a week at Cal tech, and Penny began to feel that their remaining days together were too precious to be wasted being apart from each other like this, and so she decided to have a heart to heart with Leonard on the matter. For this matter became more important for Penny the older they got.

Leonard did not take much convincing, for over the passing years, his asthma had got worse, in fact just a couple of months ago he had had a rather bad attack that really frightened Penny very much, and resulted in him having to spend a couple of nights in the local hospital for observation. Which also caused his beloved Penny a measure of distress. Yes Penny was absolutely right, time was too short, and Leonard's world was Penny and vice versa, and also as they were very comfortable financially now, Leonard could afford to take early retirement.

One big problem stood in his way, As head of Physics at Cal-Tech, Leonard had to recommend his successor to the board, and the only suitable candidate was his Mother's Husband's Niece Andrea. But would the board view Leonard's choice of Andrea, only because of his relation to her through his Mother?, and further how would his own Daughter April feel when she learned about Leonard's choosing Andrea over her. The next few weeks became quite stressful for Leonard as he was reluctant to tell Penny about his problem, thinking that she might not understand his position. Also the more Leonard held off from informing President Arden, over his intention to retire, the more Penny would bring the subject up, and too the longer he left it the more worried Penny got that Leonard was reluctant to spend more time with her, Therefore the increasing stress caused Leonard's asthma to deteriorate further resulting in Penny nagging Leonard more about him retiring, it was just a vicious circle.

Things finally came to a head when President Arden had a meeting with all the department heads, and during his discussion on the plans for the physics department next year, President Arden informed Leonard of his idea that Leonard could do a tour of all research companies in California, and discuss with them, on which particular projects the university may be able to help them with their research, President Arden's idea was that these could be examined and sorted into those projects the undergrad students could work on while at the same time, it would also widen the range of research in order for them to gain valuable experience in achieving their PhD's. While other projects could be researched by senior staff, with the aim of attracting more funding for the university.

Leonard inwardly began to panic, as it seemed things were now escalating out of his control. If Penny learned that Leonard would be roaming all over the State instead of spending more time with her, Then Penny would be quite likely to go off the deep end to an extreme degree.

All this then resulted in Leonard having a bad attack of his asthma. Fortunately Dr Howard Wolowitz , as assistant head was also present at the meeting and helped Leonard back to his office, after Leonard refused to be taken to medical.

"OK Leonard, What's up, I saw the rabbit in the headlights look on your face, so don't try to kid me that things are OK?", Howard told him, as Leonard recovered in his office.

After some difficulty at first in trying to speak, Leonard told Howard about his predicament and Howard immediately had a brainwave, as soon as he reached his own office he rang Bernadette.

Bernadette thought the problem through over a cup of coffee. For first someone, who is not a member of April's family, perhaps after commenting on Leonard's poor health lately, and his need to take things easy, would then need to ask April who she would like to see as department head in place of Leonard?. Bernadette had been aware for sometime over Leonard's worsening asthma, and if anything happened to Leonard, It wouldn't bear thinking about what effect it would have on Penny?. She would never forget how bad Penny got after Leonard's accident before, it was just too awful to see. No Bernadette was quite determined that this will never happen again to Penny, not if Bernadette had anything to do with it.

After an hour or so of deliberation, Bernadette ran Howard back, "Howard, is Samuel available?", Bernadette inquired.

Howard checked the time, "He should just be back from lunch, so I doubt if he has yet to start again?", Howard told her feeling puzzled as to why Bernadette would want to speak to their Son?.

"Thanks, I'll ring you back later. How is Leonard doing by the way?", She asked him, hoping for Penny that Leonard would not need another stay in the Hospital.

"He's getting there"Howard informed her.

"Good, now please don't tell Penny, at least until I have talked to her. Hopefully we can get Leonard's retirement back on track", Then breathing a sigh of relief Bernadette ended the call, and began to ring Samuel.

XXXXXXX

April was busy writing some more notes on her findings when Samuel Wolowitz knocked and entered.

"Hi Sam, what can I do for you?", April asked him.

"I had just had a call from Mom, I understand your Dad has not been too well lately", Samuel told her.

"Yeah my Mom's getting real worried", April admitted.

"Yes, Mom was wondering if Leonard was going to retire, I guess she thinks Uncle Leonard's health might improve", Samuel told her.

"I wish he would, my Mom would be so pleased if he did, I know.", April admitted.

"So I guess you would be taking over from him then?", Samuel asked her.

"No way, I'm far too interested in this project for the time being. It's so vitally important. If we are ever going to rely totally on green energy then it is vital that we improve the capacity and efficiency of energy storage, I've been working on this for two years and I'm going to need another four years at least", April informed him.

"Oh", Samuel said, 'it seems solving Leonard's predicament would be easier than Mom thought'. He thought to himself.

"So Then, Who would you like to be head of physics?", Samuel asked her.

"That's easy, Andrea is the best candidate, everybody knows that, don't you think so?", April asked him.

"Yeah, now that you mention it, I reckon she would be pretty good at the job. Well, nice talking with you, I have to run now, I hope your Dad gets better soon", Samuel said.

"OK Sam thank you, See you, take care".

And Samuel quickly left April's lab to call his mother back.

Howard picked up his cell and seeing that the caller was his wife he accepted the call, "Hi Honey, What did Samuel find out?", Howard asked.

Bernadette let Howard know how things went with April, "Wow, that sure takes a load off Leonard's mind", Howard told her in relief.

"And Penny's", Bernadette reminded him, Then added, "Tell Leonard all he has to do is inform the board he has a conflict of interest, and then he can give his recommendation of Andrea, and then he can tell the board, that he has full confidence in the board's ability to select the best candidate", She instructed.

"So Leonard will be passing the buck on to the board. I like it", Howard told her.

"Hey, It's not like that, Leonard needs rest now, so it's for Leonard and Penny's sake, or don't you care about our dearest friends", Bernadette demanded in that familiar voice so like Howard's Mother's.

"Of course I do, I've known Leonard now for years", Howard told her, defensively.

The very next Day Leonard submitted his plans to take early retirement and did exactly as Bernadette suggested in declaring a conflict of interest while still recommending April for his position.

And as April pointed out to Samuel everyone knew that Andrea would be the ideal replacement, including the board. And over the next month Andrea worked alongside Leonard until his last day as head of physics.

Bernadette, once Leonard had submitted his request to the board visited Penny and told her all that had been going on, and Penny was utterly relieved that Leonard was not trying to avoid her,

"So, Why didn't you tell me all this in the first place?", Penny asked of Leonard, after her conversation with Bernadette.

"I guess I thought you might not understand", Leonard admitted.

"And that's because you always over think things. Leonard, Honey, I am your Wife, Do you not think I am aware of how much you care and how much you hate disappointing people?. Never mind, everything's fine now." And everything got even better, the first day of Leonard's retirement when Penny awoke and instead of seeing her husband getting ready to got to work, Leonard turned towards her and pulled her against him, Penny sighed happily as she fell back to sleep wrapped in her Husband's arms.