Chapter 16

It was a Sunday morning and Leonard is sitting at his desk typing on his computer. He needed to finish up his report that was due tomorrow morning. Sarah was sitting on the floor by the coffee table doing some coloring books. Leonard was almost finished with his report when he heard a knock on the door. He opened it and saw Penny with her laptop computer. She gave him a quick kiss and went inside the apartment.

"Honey, my computer's acting up again, can you please take a look at it?" she said.

"Yeah sure." he said as he took the computer and set it down his desk.

Sarah stood up and ran to Penny. Penny knelt down and hugged the child. "Aww...I missed you sweetie." Penny said.

"I missed you too Penny." Sarah said. Sarah returned to the coffee table. Penny pulled a chair and moved beside Leonard while he fixes her computer.

"I missed you mister." she smiled and whispered to him.

"Me too pretty lady!" he whispered back.

"So what's wrong with my computer?" she put her chin over her hand as she looked at Leonard. Leonard never took his eyes off the screen.

"Uh...I think we need to update your anti-virus software and do an overall cleanup of your file system." he said. "Don't worry...all your files will be fine." he looked at her.

Leonard continued typing some code on Penny's laptop to start the cleanup process when they heard Sarah mumbling at the coffee table. He looked at Penny who noticed it too. They turned their heads at the same time looking at Sarah on the coffee table. She was talking in a low voice busy writing on a piece of paper.

"three x to the fourth minus 2y squared x to the third plus 4y squared plus six…."

Leonard got curious and walked up to his daughter. "Sarah honey, what are you doing?" he asked her.

Sarah looked up smiling. "Daddy look, I solved it." she smiled while handing a piece of paper to Leonard.

Leonard took the paper and couldn't believe what he saw. His daughter has solved an algebraic polynomial equation. Penny walked over to Leonard to look at the paper.

"Honey who taught you advanced algebra?" Leonard sat down on the floor beside Sarah.

"No one daddy. I found this book and read it." she showed him the book.

"Oh my god Leonard?" Penny knelt down beside him.

Leonard turned to his daughter. "Nobody taught you how to do this?" he asked her again.

"No one daddy. Is my solution correct daddy?" Sarah asked her father.

"Yes honey...it's correct….oh my god my daughter is a genius!" Leonard happily said as he hugged her daughter.

"Sarah, we're so proud of you sweetie!" Penny said as she rubbed the child's back. Penny took the book and leafed through it. "Leonard is this yours?" Penny said as she stood up.

Leonard released her daughter and stood beside Penny. Sarah sat back down by the coffee table. He took the book from Penny and looked at it. "No, this is June's old textbook." he whispered to Penny.

Penny took the book and looked at the pages. "Wow. So this stuff is for high school students?"

"Yeah….senior year to be exact." Leonard said.

"And Sarah just figured this out without anyone teaching her? That is so impressive!" Penny smiled.

"Yeah it is." Leonard said as he looked at his daughter filled with pride.

Penny continued looking at the book when she saw a small envelope taped on the back cover with Leonard's name written on it. "Leonard look at this." as she showed him the envelope.

Leonard gasped at what he saw. He took Penny's hand and led her to his desk to sit down.

"Honey what's wrong? Are you alright" Penny placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Penny...this is June's hand writing." he whispered to her.

Penny gasped. "Oh my god. Are you gonna open it?" she whispered to him.

Leonard opened the envelope and found a memory card inside it. Leonard looked at it, pondering on what to do with it.

"Honey?" Penny asked him.

Leonard looked at her. He sighed and inserted the memory card in his laptop. He clicked on its icon and saw the files inside.

"What is it Leonard?" she put her arm around his shoulder.

"It's a video file and the date stamp was a month before she passed away...maybe Sarah doesn't need to see this right now." he whispered to Penny.

Penny sighed. "You're probably right. Tell you what, let's watch it later tonight when Sarah's asleep ok?" Penny placed her hand on his cheek.

Leonard nodded. "You're right. We'll watch it later." he said to her.

"Come here honey." Penny gave him a tight hug. "Hey why don't we go out today? Let's go to the mall, or we can see a movie….what do you say?" Penny kissed his cheek.

"That's a great idea Penny." he looked over to Sarah. "Hey honey, do you wanna go to the mall with Penny?"

Sarah became excited immediately. "Yay!" she smiled.

Penny clapped her hands. "Ok, I'll go get dressed." Penny stood up and went back to her apartment. She took a quick shower and got dressed in jeans and a cute blouse. After fixing herself up, she went over to Leonard's place the same time as Sarah came out of the shower.

"Honey can you help Sarah get dressed? I'm going to take a quick shower." Leonard asked Penny.

"Of course. Come sweetie...let's get you dressed up." Penny said as she took Sarah's hand towards her bedroom.

Leonard came out of the bathroom and went straight to his room to get dressed. He was done after five minutes and went straight to the living room where Penny is combing Sarah's hair. Seeing Penny with Sarah doing 'girl' stuff made Leonard a little emotional and teary-eyed. Sarah never really had a motherly figure to look up to. Sure there was his sister and mother, but they were always away and it has always been him and his daughter for most of the time. Then Penny came along and 'completed' their family and now he is wondering if Penny understands that from this point on, Sarah will pay for any mistakes that they make in their relationship. Just the thought of Sarah getting hurt made Leonard anxious.

The trip to the mall was a quiet one. Leonard can't shake the image of the memory card they found in June's old book. He was now dreading the moment when he will finally open the file and see what's in it. They got to the mall and went straight to the food court to get something to eat. Sarah alternated between holding Leonard and Penny's hands.

Next, they went to see an animated movie. Sarah got a huge tub of popcorn and a large soda to wash It down. Leonard and Penny settled with a hotdog sandwich each. They found their seats inside the theater and Sarah was seated between the couple. Leonard reached over to hold Penny's hand while the movie is being shown. Penny could feel Leonard's anxiety ever since they left the apartment earlier. She knew that the thought of watching the video in the memory card is bothering him. After the movie, they passed by a gaming arcade which Sarah ran straight into. The couple followed and got a handful of tokens. They must have played every video game in the arcade from fighting games, racing games to even skee ball. They then decided to have dinner before going home. By the time they reached home, Sarah was already asleep. Leonard carried his daughter up to their apartment. Penny gave her a kiss on the forehead before Leonard put her to bed.

Leonard sat on the couch as Penny took out a water bottle from the fridge to give to Leonard. He took a sip and gave it back to her. She also drank from it and sat beside him. They held hands while catching their breath. Penny moved up and snuggled to Leonard. He put his arm around her shoulder and kissed the side of her head.

"Thank you for today honey, Sarah was very happy." Leonard said.

"Are you happy too?" Penny asked looking at him.

"What do you mean? Of course I'm happy when I'm with the two of you." he said. "What makes you think I'm not happy today?"

"I don't know...you seem distracted...is it because of the memory card we found this morning?" she said.

"I guess...now I'm dreading to watch it." he answered.

"Honey, there's no point in dragging this out, why don't we take you computer to my place and watch it there?" she asked him.

Leonard looked at her and sighed. "I guess you're right. Let's go to your place." He stood up and took his laptop and followed Penny to her apartment.

They sat on the couch and set the computer on the coffee table. "Ok, here goes…" Leonard clicked the file and waited for the video to load. It was a video of June that she took herself.

Hello Leonard. I really hope that you find this video. If you do, I'm probably long gone by then. Leonard I'm really sorry for leaving you like this. I never wanted this to happen to us. I wanted us to grow old together. I was so happy when I met you and when we had Sarah, my life couldn't be more complete. I guess when you have it all figured out, life throws you a right hook huh? Leonard, I love you and I want you to be happy after I'm gone. I know that someday you'll meet someone and when that happens, I want you to embrace that happiness. Please give our daughter a kiss from me. I know you'll take good care of her.

To my daughter Sarah, you were too young to understand, that's why I'm making this video so when the time comes, you'll understand. I'm sorry for leaving this way. Mommy never wanted this to happen. I love you so much darling but I feel that my sickness is winning over me. When you were born, It was the happiest day for me and your father. You were our precious gift, our princess and we were prepared to do absolutely anything just to make you happy. I'm sorry if I couldn't be there for you. I've always imagined myself braiding your hair or helping you with your prom dress or teaching you math... I know your father will take good care of you….he can be a pain in the ass sometimes but I know he means well….

Leonard never took his eyes off the screen. Tears were coming down his cheeks as he rubbed his hands while watching the video. Penny rubbed her hand over his back to comfort him. She was overcome by emotion at seeing Leonard relive his painful past. Penny closed the laptop after the video ended and hugged Leonard. They never spoke for quite a while and just stayed on the couch hugging each other.

"How are feeling honey?" Penny asked him.

"Tired…heavy I guess." Leonard answered.

"Are you going to show this to Sarah?" she asked.

"Not now. She can't take this right now. I'll show this to her when she is older." he replied.

"Ok. Do you want me to sleep with you tonight?" Penny asked.

Leonard was a little surprised and looked at her. "Uh...ok...if you want?"

Penny smiled at him. "Honey, just sleep. I want to make you feel better after this." she pointed at the laptop. "And, I'm a little tired and not in the mood." she added.

"Yeah of course." he corrected himself. "I guess we better go to my place now."

"Ok. I'll go wash up and I'll come over in a bit." she said then gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Leonard picked his laptop and stood up. He went to the door and straight into his apartment to wash up and change. He took a peek into Sarah's room and saw her sleeping soundly. Penny came to his apartment and they went to his bedroom to sleep. He took off his robe and Penny did the same. They slipped under the covers and gave each other a quick kiss on the lips. They laid down embracing each other.

"Penny…" Leonard said.

"Yes honey?" she said.

"This maybe pushing it but it might be a good idea to put some of your clothes here...you know...when you sleep over…." he said casually.

She looked up to him and smiled. "Sure honey!" she kissed him on the cheek. "And now that we're on the subject, you should put some of your stuff in my place too!" she winked at him.

"Oh?...ok." Leonard nodded.

"Leonard I have to wake up early tomorrow ok...it's my first day at the boutique." she continued "So I'll probably be gone when you wake up."

"Good luck honey...I know you'll do great!" he kissed her as he turned off the lamp on his nightstand.

They slept feeling each other's warm embrace.