Christmas at the Hofstadter's

Chapter five

Leonard didn't sleep well at all that night. A couple of times he had considered actually putting his shades on, the room was so bright. He couldn't lay still though constantly tossing and turning all night was annoying him almost as much as his mother had.

"Damn it Hofstadter" Penny made Leonard jump, he hadn't realised she was still awake "can't you keep still for, like, five minutes?"

"I'm sorry" Leonard responded "I'm just worried about tomorrow"

"I know" Penny answered thanking the universe that her parents were relatively normal compared to his "but we've got one more day, and that's it, all done"

"yeah, but there's going to be comments on every gift we get them"

"then let's not give them anything you're worried about" Penny suggested "just give them a few bits and we'll have another Christmas when we get home"

"good idea" Leonard agreed "I'll go and get some of them back in here"

"yes" Penny said, a little too loud "bed to myself"

Juliet's house was old, one of the oldest in the area. As a result it creaked. The walls creaked, the doors creaked, and most of all, the stairs creaked. Juliet had a long list of things in the house that they had been working on through the years, and 'stairs' was next on the very long list. Leonard tried not to make a noise, he knew how much of a light sleeper most of his family was. It occurred to him that until he and Penny had gotten married, he had been a light sleeper too, but that was a thought for another day.

Leonard went through all the presents and felt a little guilty, there were presents for all three of the kids from all of his family and what looked like a special one for Megan. He was so curious he wasn't sure he could wait to see what it was

"it's a telescope" Beverly broke his thoughts "I thought Megan would like it"

"thank you, Mom" Leonard smiled sincerely "she'll love it"

"I'm sorry I upset you" Beverly was trying to build more bridges "I shouldn't be conducting research on Megan without your approval"

"no, Mom" Leonard agreed "you shouldn't but I appreciate the apology"

"I promise I won't conduct any more experiments on any of your children ever again"

"thank you"

The next day went a lot better than everyone anticipated. Megan loved her telescope and she spent a lot of time with Beverly which seemed to be good for the whole family. Elliot loved his present too and, at nine months, Alice was just interested in the paper and the boxes.

"all in all, not a bad trip" Leonard smiled once they had got home and all the kids in bed "Mom and Megan seemed to have a nice time"

"they did" Penny agreed "it was nice to see them bonding"

"maybe we will see them again" Leonard thought out loud "give them another chance"