Chapter 35 - Unknown Factors
"Good morning Doctor Hofstadter" Jeannie had a huge smile on her face until she looked a Penny then her big smile slowly dissolved away, "Mrs. Hofstadter." Jeannie acknowledged Penny with a head nod.
Leonard mentally said 'Wow', his secretary obviously did not care for his wife, and Penny's expression made it obvious the feeling was mutual. "Umm, Jeannie, it has been a long weekend, do I have any appointments this morning?" Leonard needed to find out if he had to do something this morning, because he had no idea what his schedule was, and he needed to get Penny away from Jeannie, the tension between them seemed to build every second they were in the same room.
"No Doctor Hofstadter." Again with a huge smile. "You don't have anything till your One O'clock with the board and Dr Cooper."
"Okay, thanks." Leonard switched his bear claw to the same hand, as his coffee, and grabbed Penny's arm to pull her into his office. Once inside the office Leonard sat Penny at his conference table and sat next to her, watching her quietly picking small pieces of her bear claw and putting them into her mouth, a distance look on her face. He just watched her for a couple minutes before he couldn't stand it any longer. "Penny?"
Penny turned to him with a blank expression, then blinked a couple times, and finally with a big sigh leaving her mouth, "Sorry."
"Have you two had a run in?" Leonard looked at her trying to figure out what was going on.
"No." Penny took a sip of her coffee then looked at Leonard. "She has been you secretary for a couple of years, and remember I told you, the last year I haven't been around because of…..you know." Leonard nodded. "Sweetie, it is obvious she likes you a lot and well…everyone here knows what went on, rumors were on the news and everything. Well, they all think I'm your cheating wife, so Jeannie probably sees me as a worthless bitch." Penny now looked away at her coffee, slowly turning the cup in circles in her hand.
"Do you want me to get rid of her?" Leonard didn't really know what to do.
"No, of course not." Penny then sighed, "I just wonder sometimes if anything happened between you and her the last year….I wonder if she comforted you." the last sentence came out as almost a whisper.
"Penny, I have done nothing with her." Leonard hoped she remembered.
"I know…..I don't mean you…I mean other you….I mean future you…Crap, I don't know what I mean, but I know you didn't."
"I bet even in the future...past whatever, I didn't cheat on you with my secretary Penny, so please don't get yourself worked up about it." Leonard wanted to get her out of the funk she seemed to be putting herself in.
"I guess I really know that, I'm the only cheater in the family." Penny softly said.
"Penny your beating yourself up over that too. You have to stop, he…..I told you it was okay, in the video." Leonard tried to reason with her.
Penny now looked at him, "Sweetie, it wasn't okay believe me. You weren't here then, you were a lot worse than he made out in the video. Did you see him, that all happened in that year, he became sickly." Penny looked down at her cup again. "The other problem is Leonard, I don't know why. Why would I do something like that to you. I love you so much it hurts, why would I cheat on you when the thought of being without you makes me want to die. If maybe I knew the answer, I could get over this, but I can't figure out why."
"Maybe it was just too much alcohol." Leonard didn't know what to tell her.
Penny slowly shook her head, "I've been a lot drunker, so drunk at a party that you had to pour me into the car and I wanted you to just kill me next morning. And when I get drunk and horny, I go looking for you and start making an ass of myself pawing you, because when I get horny you are the only thing on my mind."
"Maybe because I wasn't there when you needed me." Leonard was now grasping at any excuse to make her feel better.
Penny shook her head again, "You made most of the parties, but there were still a few you didn't and I got pretty drunk at two of them. The girls brought me home one time and I called you the second time, telling you that if you didn't hurry and come get me, I was going to strip nude and wait till you came to pick up your wife and make love to her. You teased me for two weeks over that one." Penny told him.
Leonard scooted closer to her and put his arms around her waist, Penny just leaned back against him put her arms over his, a content sigh escaping her lips. "Penny, put it out of your mind, it didn't happen between you and me, okay"
"I'll try Sweetie, I'll try." Penny closed her eyes and sat there against Leonard, just enjoying the closeness of his body and the warmth that radiated from him as he held her.
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"Okay, I'll see you later Honey." Amy leaned up to give her husband a kiss, she didn't expect what happened next.
Sheldon pulled Amy close to him to kiss her hard, as he hugged her body tightly, part of his action was from being scared at her leaving him alone and him loosing the anchor he had been depending on since he got in this timeline. But the other reason was Sheldon was already getting use to being married and he liked it, Amy made him happy, happier than he had ever felt in his life. Even though they were married for a couple of years as far as this timeline, Sheldon was a newlywed and he wanted to spend more time with Amy, he really didn't want to be away from her until he could adjust to this new happiness that he was experiencing. Like now, every time he kissed Amy it seemed better than the last time and his mind wondered how good could it possibly get.
Amy was breathless, when Sheldon finally let her go, and she struggled to keep standing, her knees weak from the passion her husband just subjected them both too. It took her mind several seconds to come back to reality as she kept looking into his deep blue eyes, their hypnotic effect on her something she could never resist. "Sheldon, I…" words would not come to her mouth so she just reached to hold him and was immediately drawn into his arms again.
Sheldon held Amy and lightly rested his chin on her head, relaxing as his nose took in the smell of her, the smell that made his heart feel so good and relaxed him. He just wanted to go back to their home, cuddle on the couch and just watch TV together, like this past weekend. Sheldon didn't know how long they stayed like that, but it was finally Amy who pulled back from his embrace, looking up at him with love in her eyes.
"Honey, I'm late for work, I really need to get going." Even Sheldon could understand she wasn't telling him she was leaving, she was asking him if she could leave.
He fought every selfish urge he had to let her go and still couldn't do it, it was Leslie Winkle that actually made it so Amy could leave. "Umm, sorry I didn't know you had company" She had poked her head into his office so she could talk to him.
"I was just leaving." However Amy didn't move as she looked at Sheldon, her eyes silently asking if he still needed her there.
"I will see you at lunch?" Sheldon tried not to seem too needy and hoped his pleading eyes would be recognized by his wife.
Amy smiled. "Of course Dr Cooper." the teasing tone evident in her response.
Sheldon couldn't help but smile. "Thank you Dr Cooper." He then leaned down to give a peck on the lips arrogantly ignoring that Leslie was still there watching them. Sheldon then watched his wife leave, before turning to the source of his immediate discomfort. "What do you want, couldn't you see that I was busy." He snapped.
Sheldon's tone almost had Leslie in tears, making her purpose for being there at that moment, meaningless, she now just wanted to leave, his presence and the university. "I came to ask for the rest of the day off. I'm not feeling well."
Sheldon's face turned from anger to concern, for his well being, as he took a couple steps back from her and pulled his t-shirt over his nose and mouth. "If you are sick, why did you come here. You could have called."
"I'm not sick with anything you can catch." Leslie should have understood she would not get any sympathy from him.
Sheldon waved his hand at her. "Go and don't come back until a doctor provides a written report that you are well again." He backed a few more feet from her.
Leslie just nodded and left his office. She knew she had top and tell Leonard, he needed to know, she had just hoped Sheldon would have made it easier for her. She sighed once she was outside Sheldon's office and started to walk to the Physics Department offices, to talk to Leonard, she didn't know what else to do but tell him of her condition.
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Penny had went to the bathroom, so Leonard just started looking through his email, when Jeannie knocked on his door. "Dr Hofstadter, Dr Winkle is here, wondering if she could talk to you."
Leonard nodded to Jeannie, he really hoped Leslie was not there to talk to him about some project he didn't know about or something like that. He suddenly wished Penny was there and hoped she came back soon, he felt like a fish out of water right now. "Did she say what she wanted?"
"She said it was a personal matter." Jeannie responded, so Leonard thought maybe he could handle that by himself.
"Okay, send her in." Leonard hoped he was right.
Leslie had gotten herself worked up on the way to Leonard's office worrying about what she was going to do and what she was going to tell him. It was so stressing her that after Leonard greeted her and offered her a seat she couldn't take it anymore and she had to tell him. Leslie never saw Penny open the door and start to come in the office when she began to speak, "Leonard, I'm pregnant." Her voice cracking as the words left her mouth.
Leonard was rendered speechless, the way she said it was like she was saying it was his and he looked at Penny with helplessness in his eyes. Penny looked at him confused and was about to turn back and go back out the door, but Leonard decided, in that moment, that it was better she knew now than later. "Penny don't go."
Leslie turned quickly to see Penny behind her, she knew, like everyone else at the university, about all the troubles between Leonard and Penny and now felt bad she told him in front of her. She now wished she never came there, even though she knew he needed to know. "Maybe I should leave." Leslie's voice now cracked with grief and the tears fighting to come out, with everything she said.
Whatever Penny felt about the scene in front of her, she felt more sorry for the woman sitting there in front of her, she could tell Leslie was on the verge of crying and Penny just couldn't watch her leave in that state. Penny walked over to Leslie and put her hands on her shoulders, "Sweetie are you alright?" Penny then felt Leslie shiver as the tears began to fall. She looked at Leonard who stared at her, fear evident in his eyes, because she knew he was thinking the exact same thing as her.