Chapter 5
It was six in the evening when Leonard and Sarah left the University. Leonard felt lucky that the University understood his situation with his daughter. When June was diagnosed with terminal cancer, everyone in the University was very supportive of his ordeal and helped out as much as they could. Sheldon, Howard and Raj helped out more since they've known Leonard the longest and is their best friend.
When June passed away, the University allowed Leonard to setup a small nursery in his office beside his lab so he could look after his daughter as Leonard didn't want to leave her in daycare with strangers. When Sarah reached four, he would drop her off at preschool in the morning and pick her up after lunch so she could stay in his office until they went home. Sarah would stay in his office playing with her toys or sleep on the couch and wait for her daddy to finish up with work. This has been their daily routine. Sometimes, Howard, Raj or Sheldon would come by Leonard's office to keep Sarah company.
Sarah asked her father if they could eat again at the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Leonard told her ok. They entered and was shown to their table by the receptionist. The restaurant was almost full and their waitress came to take their order.
"Hi Leonard! Hi Sarah! I'm Bernadette and I'll be your waitress for tonight." Bernadette welcomed them.
"Uh hi!? How did you know our names exactly?" Leonard asked while Sarah looked up to Bernadette.
"Oh! Ah, Penny told us everything about you!" she replied. "She had the morning shift today so.."
"Do you know what you want to eat sweetie!?" she turned her attention to Sarah.
Sarah turned the menu pages "May I have this please?" she pointed at the picture.."and an orange juice please."
"Sure thing honey. And how about you Leonard?" she turned to him.
"Oh. I'll have this and an iced tea please." he pointed on the menu smiling at Bernadette.
"Great. Your order will be out in ten minutes." Bernadette turned around when Leonard called her back.
"Ah excuse me Bernadette...may I ask what did Penny say to you about me?" Leonard was curious.
"Uhh...just everything. She really appreciated what you've done for her." Bernadette replied smiling. "She said you were great."
"Oh…" Leonard said.
"I'll go and get your order now." Bernadette turned around and left.
After eating, Leonard asked for the check and paid for their meal. "Sarah dear aren't you gonna say goodbye to Bernadette?"
"Bye miss Bernadette!" Said Sarah smiling at Bernadette.
"Bye honey! Bye Leonard. Come back soon ok!" She waved back at them as they walked away from their table.
They drove home and Leonard helped Sarah clean up and brush her teeth. Sarah went to the couch in the living room and turned on the TV. Leonard got cleaned himself and changed his clothes to get ready for bed. He sat beside his daughter and grabbed a copy of Physics Journal Magazine to read while Sarah watched TV. Sarah cuddled beside him and he put his arm around her. It didn't take long for Sarah to fall asleep. Leonard put the magazine down and carried his daughter to her room. He put her teddy bear in her arm and pulled the blanket over her. Leonard kissed her forehead and closed the door gently.
He went back to the living room to watch TV. There was nothing particularly interesting on the TV so he grabbed his magazine and continued to read. After a while, he remembered what happened at the restaurant and reached for his phone.
L: [Hi! Me and Sarah were at the restaurant tonight. Bernadette said you were in the morning shift. {smiley face}]
After a while, his phone vibrated.
P: [Yeah. Sarah sleeping now?]
L: [Yes.]
L: [Did you get your car back from the shop?]
P: [They said I can pick up my car tomorrow.]
P: [So how was work?]
L: [Nothing much. Just re-running some previous experiments to confirm our findings. Just looking at hours and hours of data basically. Very tedious]
L: [Sarah asked me to take her to your restaurant because she said she misses you.]
P: [Aww so sweet of her. And you?] she held her breath smiling.
L: [And me what?] Leonard didn't understand.
P: [I thought you were a genius?] Penny thought it was cute of him being clueless.
P: [Did you miss me?] Penny couldn't believe she sent that text. She wanted to throw her phone away.
L: [Yeah I guess. {smiley face}]
L: [You told Bernadette about last Saturday?]
P: [Yeah. Why? Is there a problem?]
L: [No. Not really.]
P: [Don't worry sweetie. You did great.]
L: [Have you heard from the audition yet?]
P: [No word yet. My agent said it might take a couple of weeks. Fingers crossed!]
L: [I'm sure you'll get it!]
P: [How do you know?]
L: [Just a feeling I guess.]
P: [I Know what you mean.]
P: [I didn't expected you that day but there you were. I really thought I wouldn't get there but luckily you rescued me. {heart emoji} {smiley face} {pizza emoji}]
L: [I'm glad you're glad]
P: [I guess I better thank the guy who slammed into my car huh?]
L: [I should be the one thanking him. {smiley face}]
P: [Yeah? Why?]
L: [If not for him, I wouldn't be able to spend time with you.]
P: [Now you're just pulling my chain.]
L: [No, I mean it. Who wouldn't want to spend time with you? You're beautiful, you're kind and very easy to talk to...]
P: [You're pretty great too.]
P: [Most guys have only one thing on their mind. But you were a perfect gentleman. {heart emoji} {smiley face}]
P: [I appreciate that.]
L: [I'll try to keep that in mind. {heart emoji} {smiley face}]
L: [I'll turn in now. You should probably get some sleep too.]
P: ['Night Leonard. I'm glad you texted me. {heart emoji} {smiley face}]
L: [Me too. {heart emoji} {smiley face}]
L: ['night Penny.]
Penny put her phone down, grabbed a pillow against her face and screamed into it. She couldn't believe what just happened.
Leonard stood up and turned off the lights in the living room. He went to his bed to sleep but it took a while as he kept looking at his phone. He didn't understood what just happened.