Chapter 30: Family History

Our boys have a little heart-to-heart about the situation and Penny lends a hand.

After Penny had left, Leonard sat down on the couch, looked up at Sheldon, and gave a resigned sigh as he declared, "Well buddy, you really did it this time."

Sheldon arched an eyebrow and answered matter-of-factly, "Really, Leonard. You must agree with me that Niki's temper got the better of her this time."

Leonard's eyes were like laser beams as he challenged his friend with, "You want the truth?"

Sheldon nodded resolutely and replied, "Of course. The worst truth is far better than the best lie."

"You more than had that coming."

Sheldon plopped down next to his fellow physicist on the couch and spat out an unbelieving, "WHAT?"

Leonard stared straight into his friend's eyes, inhaled deeply, and began to speak, "Let's take a little walk down memory lane, Sheldon. Since you've been here in Heidelberg, you've belittled your wife every chance you had until she finally had enough of it and stopped talking to you. Husbands and wives are supposed to support each other, not tear each other down."

The taller man sniffed indignantly, "It seems Niki did a fairly good job of that a few minutes ago."

Leonard gave a shrug of his shoulders and continued, "Hey, she learned from The Master. Sheldon, you were expecting Niki to read your mind and know what caused your lousy attitude. Now, the lady is smart, but she isn't that smart. All she could see from her end is that every time she tried to be nice, you cut her down. You even insulted her research capabilities. How would you like if someone did that to you?"

Sheldon looked down his nose at his friend and answered him with a pompous, "Leonard, no one would ever insult my ability to do research."

His friend nodded and agreed, "No, they wouldn't. And before you got in your dirty little digs, that had never happened to Niki, either. And still, despite your nasty remarks, despite the rumors you were having a fling with another woman, despite the complete absence of an apology from you, your wife interrupted her life to fly halfway across the world to bring you something she thought was important to you. And how did you repay her? You told her that her efforts were unnecessary and then asked her if she felt silly doing all of that for you. It's a wonder she didn't give you a well-placed kick in certain sensitive regions. Buddy, you're my best friend, but I'm telling you, you acted like a complete jackass to the person who loves you the most. You hurt her and she fired back. Anyone would have done the same thing, maybe worse."

"Worse?"

Leonard gave a weak smile, conceded the point, and then went on to give his take on the events of the evening, "Okay, I'll give you that one. Niki's the queen of vitriol, but no one would have liked your attitude. No one. You were cold to her buddy. Real cold. Nik's a good woman. She's a great mother to Lori and a great wife to you. I think you owe the lady an apology and that's all I'm going to say in the matter."

Sheldon digested Leonard's words for quite some time and then responded in a voice filled with contrition, "You're right. I have been an ass and I do owe Niki an apology. A real one. I never meant to hurt her, but I know I have. Very much in fact. I remember the last time Niki ran out on me in anger was on that speaking tour shortly before our wedding. I was being self-centered and hurtful to her then, also. Leonard, I've got to try and somehow repair the damage I've done to our marriage, if that's even possible."

Leonard reached over and patted his friend on the shoulder, "Oh, I think it's totally possible. Sheldon, Niki loves you very much. That's why your words hurt her so much and I know you love her. Instead of all this back and forth insulting each other, why not say 'I love you', instead? It couldn't hurt. As you said, the truth is always better than a lie." Leonard then did something he had never done before, he went over to the mini-bar, grabbed a chilled bottle of wine, and poured his friend a drink. After thinking about it for second, he poured one for himself as well. He then walked over to his friend, handed him one of the glasses and told him, "I know you're not a big drinker, buddy. But right now, I think you could use this."

Instead of showing his usual peevishness at Leonard's offer of alcohol, Sheldon took the wine and downed it quickly, "If I ever in my life needed a drink, tonight is it." He then raised his mostly empty glass to his partner and added, "I thank you for your wisdom, Leonard. To us and our ladies."

Leonard gave his friend a bright smile in return and joined him in his toast, "To us and our ladies. Now, let's get ourselves ready for when our wives return."

Sheldon looked as though all the oxygen had been sucked out of the room as he asked, "Are you expecting doom, Leonard?"

The shorter man shook his head and reassured him with, "Nah. Penny's been talking with her. My wife has this gift for bringing out the best in people."

Sheldon put down his wine glass and pensively inquired, "Does she also have a knack for taming the savage beast?"

"Sheldon, stop. Niki is neither a beast nor savage. She was just a pissed off wife. Just talk to her, buddy. You guys will be fine…I hope."

Sheldon nodded slowly and replied in a soft voice, "I hope so too, Leonard. I hope so, too."

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Meanwhile, back at the hotel…

Niki and Penny waited impatiently for their ride back to the university complex. Penny's anticipation kept her from sitting comfortably in the overstuffed chair in the lobby. She repeatedly got up and checked the street outside for a certain car and driver. Niki was far from feeling calm, as well. The penitent wife sat playing with her purse strap and tapping her feet in frustration, almost willing their ride to arrive. She felt an increasingly urgent need to get back to her husband and set things right, and the wait was not doing her stomach any good. Suddenly she bolted out of her seat and raced for the restroom in the lobby saying as she ran, "Excuse me, Penny. I'll only be a minute. "

Her friend called after her, "Sick again?" But Niki never answered her as she had disappeared from sight. A slight retching sound could be heard through the closed door. Penny shrugged her shoulders and went back to looking out the door, thinking to herself, I guess that answers my question.

When Niki emerged from the restroom, she made a vain attempt to compose herself before Penny asked her in a concerned voice, "Don't tell me the schnitzel was bad, too. What's up with your stomach, Nik?"

Her friend wrinkled her nose and replied wearily, "I don't know what it is. I got a little dizzy and my stomach went south. I'm probably over-tired from the flight, the fight, and the war over who is right."

Penny looked at her girlfriend quizzically and demanded an answer "Okay, Nik. Now is not the time to be cute. What the heck is going on with you?"

Niki waved off her question, looked out the front windows, and focused her attention on the happenings outside of the building, "Nothing that a good night's rest won't help, I'm sure. Now, I see a car pulling up, is that ours?"

Penny's focus shifted to the vehicle parking right outside the double doors, "Oh, yeah. It is. Let's get ourselves over to the university apartments and if you aren't better by morning, I'm having Sheldon call a doctor."

Niki hurried to the door, calling over her shoulder to her companion, "Please, Penny. Don't be so concerned. I'm sure it's nothing. Now, can we go?"

The blonde beauty gave a resigned sigh and followed her friend, "Sure, girl."

As they left the building, they both went over to the vehicle parked in front of the hotel entrance, a light grey Mercedes sedan. Niki opened the passenger side door and was shocked to see a familiar face staring back at her. She looked at her companion and demanded, "Penny, what's Helmut doing here and did you have anything to do with this?"

"Sweetie, all questions will be answered after you get in the car, so let's go."

Feeling she had no choice, Niki sat down next to her cousin in the front while, once again, Penny made herself comfortable on the seat in the back and closed her eyes.

Before he put the car in gear, Helmut turned to his front seat partner and informed her, "Okay, cousin dear, listen up. I have some important things to say and I want you to just listen. You can have your say whenever I ask you a question and when I'm finished, but outside of those two instances, please listen to me. Do you agree?"

Niki looked at him like he had two heads and stopped him before he could say anything further, "I have to ask you, what is it you're going to talk about?"

Helmut exhaled through his nose and replied, "You, your mother, my mother, their mother, and how some puzzle pieces are coming together in my mind. Now, are you agreeable to hearing me out?"

Niki replied in a voice filled with uncertainty, "Sure, Helmut. I'll listen. But I can't guarantee you that I'll agree with what you say."

The usually stoic man's face finally broke out in a smile as he responded to her in a pronounced German accent instead of the slight one he usually affected, "That's the beautiful part, you don't have to. Whether you agree or not will be entirely up to you. This is not going to be a lecture, just some family similarities I have noticed and want to share with you. Now, may I begin?"

"Of course," Niki told him, her curiosity growing by the second, "please proceed."

"Very well, let me start with the person in all of this closest to me. When discussing my mother, you made the comment that she ran from her situations when they weren't what she had foreseen them to be. That is correct. But that is also true of everyone on the female side of your family. My mother ran from Milwaukee, ran from her marriage to my father, and ran from me. That is quite a bit of running, don't you think?"

Niki thought deeply for a moment and then agreed with him, 'Of course. She could have a shoe named after her. But go on."

Helmut pulled the car out into traffic and without taking his eyes off the road, asked her, "How much do you know about your maternal grandmother?"

Niki shrugged and fiddled with the heating vents on the dashboard, "Not a great deal. My mother seldom talked about her. She merely told me that her mother and father moved here from Germany before she was born."

"That is correct, as far as you know. My father knew a bit more than that and shared it with me.
Back in Munich, your grandmother was about to be married to an older man of her parents' choosing. She was having none of that, so she eloped and fled to America with what she thought was her true love. A young local lad with connections in Milwaukee."

Niki tapped her cousin on the arm and interrupted him with, "Excuse me, Helmut. But the pictures I've seen of my maternal grandparents show my grandfather as being quite a bit older than my grandmother."

Helmut turned to her at the next stoplight and chided her gently, "Niki, let me continue. I was about to explain that to you. Anyway, the happy couple got to America and your grandmother, whose name was Alma, in case you didn't know, discovered that her Prince Charming was, in reality, a monster. He both physically and mentally abused her for quite a long while. Now, in one of those strange scenarios that life throws at us now and again, her parents came over from Germany to visit her. Their feelings of outrage had died and they truly wanted to reestablish a healthy relationship with their only daughter. The funny thing was, they brought along that older man she was supposed to have married. Why they did that we may never know, but they did. To make a long story short, guess who rescued young Alma from the monster and guess whom she fell madly in love with and spent the rest of her life with? Oh, and had four children with?"

Niki couldn't help grinning and replied, "Okay, let's see…that older gentleman that she was supposed to marry in the first place?"

"Correct. Now, on to your mother."

Niki eyes grew wide with panic and she cried out, "Wait, my mother ran from a bad marriage, too?"

Helmut sighed, and once again gave her a gentle reprimand, "No, not at all. Please, Niki. Let me finish. If you have any questions at the end, I will gladly answer them for you." Niki nodded her head in agreement and sat quietly, letting her cousin finish his tale of her family. As he spoke, her eyes grew wider and wider and her entire view of her place in the world was altered.

"Now, your mother had a very happy marriage to your father. White picket fence, three healthy and happy children, two girls and a boy. Of course, both parents were quite successful professionals, so they lived well. Niki, I must ask you, my father never told me what your parents did. What were their occupations?"

Niki smiled to herself at a long-ago memory and replied, "My father was a full partner with a Family Law firm in Pasadena. My mother was a high school teacher, she taught history and science. We lived in an upper middle-class neighborhood and I knew I was loved by both of my parents. Outside of having to live in the same home as my sister, I had a great childhood for the most part. At least it was great after my braces came off and I had corrective surgery on my eyes. No having to wear glasses or braces anymore was such a relief to me."

"Okay, that's nice. Now, we have established that your mother and father had a good relationship. That, from what my father told me, is true. But, that all changed when your father died. How old were you when that happened?" His eyes were a piercing blue as he asked her this.

"I was in my first year of college. I was seventeen. But he had been ill with cancer for several years, much like Sheldon's first wife, Amy."

Now it was Helmut's turn to be shocked by new information and he hastily responded with, "I didn't know Sheldon had been married before! We must talk more about that later. Anyway, back to your mother, when your father died, did your mother have a hard time with that?"

Niki admitted the truth of that question by replying, "Yes. She felt very scared and alone, so she moved back to Milwaukee to be with her family."

"And there she stayed for several years. Your mother didn't so much run from something as she ran to something, which would be her family back in Wisconsin. Am I correct?"

Sheldon's wife smiled and shrugged her shoulders, "I never thought of it that way, but I guess you're right. Though the argument could also be made that she ran from her pain."

When they stopped at the next light, Helmut's voice turned very serious and he began to make his final point, "And now we come to you, my dear. You tend to hide your true feelings when you are either annoyed or hurt until they burst out of you like a fire breathing dragon. At least, that's what Penny has told me."

Niki wheeled in her seat and gave her bestie an intense stare, which the actress did her best to avoid. "Penny, you said that? Oh my god!" Turning back around, she recovered her wits and resumed talking to her cousin, "Okay, I guess it's true. But I didn't run from my first husband when he cheated on me. Or when he died, I didn't run then, either."

Helmut was quick to correct her, "Oh, but you did. You ran from your feelings of betrayal when Paul cheated and you ran from your feelings of loss when he died."

"How did I do that?" an angry Niki asked him.

"You never confronted Paul about his cheating so you ran from that, threw yourself into your career, being the wife of a very successful man, and convinced yourself you had a happy marriage. When he died, you ran from your feelings of devastation and loss and straight to a liquor bottle."

Niki held up an index finger, "One question, Helmut."

His brows furrowed in anticipation as he inquired, "What is that?"

"How do you know all of this stuff? You didn't get all of it from Penny, I can guarantee you that."

"Penny has filled me in on some of it, and I also did some research on you after I left the apartment tonight, much to the annoyance of Anna. Anyway, here you are, running again. You ran into silence when you got angry at Sheldon for his attitude when you were Skyping. When that didn't work and Sheldon said something inappropriate earlier tonight, which you should be used to by now, your feelings finally erupted and, as you Americans would say, you 'ripped him a new one'. Niki, Sheldon had already explained to you why he acted as he did. You didn't really listen to him, you were too busy building a mountain of resentment towards him instead of showing him how hurt you were by his actions. Then, you went in for the kill and, guess what? You fired your salvo and ran once more. Niki, the female side of your family has a distinct propensity for running when things get tricky or tough. Don't you think it's time to end that pattern for good? Would you like to see your daughter doing this to herself or someone else? As your very astute husband is known to say, the worst truth is better than the best lie."

Niki suddenly understood all the implications of the phrase she had heard her husband use many times over the course of their relationship. The truth of that statement and the truth of her actions came together in her mind and she dropped her head into her hands and began to sob, "My god, your right, Helmut. I've run from or to something every time life got tough. And here I thought I was the strong one in my relationships. Between you and Penny, I've kinda been given a window seat to some very insightful, and not so flattering, things about myself."

Helmut took his hand and lifted his cousin's face to meet his. He then spoke softly and kindly to her, "Niki, I'm not telling you that Sheldon is perfect, far from it. I know that firsthand. He drives me crazy sometimes. But, his heart is in the right place where his family is concerned. He loves you and doesn't want you to run, but sometimes your reactions to things scare him and he shuts down."

Niki nodded soberly to herself and whispered, "And it stops tonight. I will do whatever it takes to make my marriage work for both of us. No more running."

From behind, Penny gave her bestie a giant hug, "Sweetie, I hope you're not mad at me."

Niki turned quickly and addressed her friend, "Mad? For heaven's sake, why would I be? You've just proven to me that you're the best friend I've ever had. You left your husband, who was very eager to have a wonderful private reunion with you, to come out in the dead of a German winter and help me with my problems. Penny, you and Helmut are the best!"

Helmut cleared his throat and spoke sincerely to her, "And so is your husband in his own unique way. Now, here we are at the hotel and here is your chance to put all your promises into action. Something tells me that Sheldon will be more than happy to help you."

Niki wiped her eyes and nodded in agreement, a smile finally gracing her face, "I think you're right, Cuz. Park this car and let me and Penny go up to see our husbands. Helmut, will you and Annelise please join us tomorrow for a tour of the castle? Unless you have a class to teach, of course."

Helmut gave her a broad smile and a hug while replying, "I do believe that both Anna and I are free the entire day tomorrow, or at least Anna is. I am teaching an evening class, but I do have the rest of the day until then quite open. We will be more than happy to meet you at your mother's hotel at, as Sheldon so succinctly put it, eleven sharp."

With that, Niki and Penny made their way into the building and up to their husbands' apartment. Penny exhausted and Niki tingling with anticipation.

Will everything go smoothly? Most likely, but I think our dear girl has a few things she needs to tell her husband.