A/N. I'm sorry I'm late with this, but let me explain. I thought last month has been very busy for me, but this one was worse. As I mentioned, my wife is recovering from having her hip replaced. This involves three days of physical therapy a week at the doctor's office and more at home. I have to take her to these appointments and since she is very limited in what she can do, I have to do all the chores around the house.

I told you last month that I am in charge of the group that builds the sets at the theatre where I do my acting. This involves two days a week (plus a bit more), so on the days I'm not taking my wife to her appointments, I'm running the set crew. There was some extra time in the last couple of weeks due to the show starting. I'm also working on building a new shed, as I told you last month.

With all of that, my schedule has been quite different from what it usually is. Mostly, I write at night (rather late at that) and with everything going on, I've been getting up early and going to bed early. So, my writing time has been shrunk to basically nothing.

Due to this, I had not finished the chapter as of my typical publishing day (Sun-Mon the 5-6). Instead of leaving anyone hanging, I decided on a shorter chapter, about 2000 words vs my normal around 3000. I went this way because I had no way to let you all know why I hadn't published it and didn't want you to think I abandoned it.

Now, my wife is getting better, the set is complete, and the shed is coming along. I should be able to get out a full-length chapter (Apr 2-3), with a bit extra to make up for the short one this month. If I'm a couple of days late, don't worry, I will be continuing this. I hope you are all happy with this, I am doing my best. Enjoy.

Chapter 14 Twin Trouble

15 August 1:30 PM

"What do you mean?" said Leonard, sounding concerned.

"My babies don't like me," said Penny, still sobbing.

Leonard got up from the floor and went and sat next to Penny. Taking her hand, he said, "How did you come to that conclusion?"

Penny sat up straighter, sniffled, and looked at Leonard. The last two days, when you weren't here, they started crying and I tried to feed them and change them. But, they didn't want to eat and they didn't need changing, all they kept doing was crying. I tried everything I knew and they still kept crying. Nothing I did would stop it. Finally, I think they just cried themselves out. I was so frustrated and exhausted, I just fell asleep."

Leonard thought back to finding Penny asleep on the couch.

"Now, I wake up to find you playing with them and they are laughing and giggling after you fed them. You did feed them didn't you?"

"Yes, I did," said Leonard. "And, I changed them."

Penny started tearing up again, "See, they like you, they don't like me."

Penny, don't be silly," said Leonard. "You fed them this morning with no problems, You fed them last night with no problems. I'm sure it's just them being cranky at certain times. If you think I don't have a problem with them, at times, you are wrong. They cry for me and I get frustrated with them all the time."

"No they don't," said Penny. "I've never heard them cry when you are feeding and changing them. And, I've never seen you frustrated with them."

"Yes, they cry and I do get frustrated," said Leonard. "Listen, why don't you go upstairs and continue your nap? I'll call Howard and Bernadette and ask them over for dinner. I'll cook some burgers on the grill. Run to the store and get some beans and macaroni salad. When they come over, you can talk to Bernadette. They didn't have the best time starting off, remember the story about her having to climb into the crib to keep them quiet? She'll explain things and you'll feel better, you'll see."

Penny didn't know what to say. It made a lot of sense and she didn't get a long nap in and could use a bit more. She smiled weekly at Leonard and nodded. She got up and walked up the stairs to the bedroom. After she disappeared from view Leonard got his phone and selected Bernadette's number.

It rang several times before she picked it up, "What's up, Leonard?" she said.

"Listen, how about you bring all three kids over for dinner tonight?"

"I only have two…oh, yeah, Howard," said Bernadette with a giggle. "What's up?"

"Penny's having a hard time because the babies are crying, even if they aren't hungry or need changing. She hasn't seen me having any problems with them and she claims it's because they don't like her."

Leonard could hear a chuckle on the other end, "Yeah, I went through that," said Bernadette. "Both kids seemed to have loved Howard. It eventually happened, but it took a while before he had to deal with it. How about I talk to her and get her through this?"

"That's what I was hoping for," said Leonard.

"When do you want us over?" asked Bernadette.

"Hmmm, I think around 5 PM," said Leonard. "That will give me a chance to get the burgers set up and run to the store."

"That sounds good," said Bernadette. "I'll see you around five and I'll get this straightened out.

"Thank you so much, Bernadette," said Leonard. "We'll see you then."

As he hung up the phone, he thought lucky it was having Howard and Bernadette living next door.

16 August 6:50 AM

Penny was coming to the end of her run. She had gotten up at 6 AM to start her morning routine. She had started this after getting the okay from her doctor. It consisted of 15 minutes of yoga, to get loose, then she would run for 30 minutes. Although, she hadn't been consistent with this routine with her parents and then Alfred there.

She was thinking about what Bernadette had told her the night before. It was sweet of Leonard to bring Howard and Bernadette over, so she and Bernadette could talk. Penny had forgotten that Howard and Bernadette had gone through a crying stage with both Halley and Michael. Bernadette had recommended talking to their pediatrician if the crying continued. Penny thought that was a good idea as the twins were scheduled for their two-month checkup in about a week and a half.

She still couldn't get past the fact that they didn't act like that with Leonard, only her, even though he claimed otherwise. Bernadette assured her that they would, at some point, act like that with Leonard, because hers had started with her, before driving Howard up the wall.

Penny turned back down their street and stopped at their driveway. She did some cooling-down stretches before walking to the front door. As she entered the house, she was hit by a wall of sound, both babies were crying loudly. Leonard was sitting at the table trying to feed one of the twins and she was rejecting the bottle.

Penny looked around and could see the other twin in one of the cribs, also crying loudly. Leonard just looked at her and mouthed, "Help". With a smirk, Penny said, "Well, it looks like Bernadette was right. She said they would start acting this way with you. Luckily for you, I've been through this. Come here, Jesika, I've got you."

16 August 8:30 AM

It had taken a while, but the twins finally had settled down. Penny had managed to finally get them to take one of her breasts and they had both eaten. Leonard looked exhausted but continued helping with burping and after feeding, Penny changed them into one of their daily outfits.

"With the twins back down and sleeping, Penny was pumping her excess breast milk. While Leonard watched he said, "Is that what they were doing with you the last couple of days?"

"Yes, it is," said Penny.

"No wonder you thought they hated you," said Leonard. "We might want to ask the doctor in a week or two."

"That's what Bernadette suggested," said Penny. "Although she also said her doctor told her it was colic, something two-month-olds have, at least it peaks at that point."

If it continues into next week, we'll definitely ask," said Leonard. He continued looking at Penny, then said, "Can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"Remember you said one of the reasons you might not go back to work was you would have to pump a lot of breast milk?"

Penny nodded, "Yes, what about it?"

"Well, aren't you pumping a lot, right now?" asked Leonard. "I mean, you always have enough in the fridge for a couple of days. If you were working, you would have to do about the same amount of pumping, wouldn't you?"

Penny shook her head, "You know I need to have that much stored because I can't leave it out for longer than a few hours. With you and Louise helping, I have to have enough for you two to feed them if I can't, so I pump."

"But, that means you are doing the same amount of pumping as you would if you were working, right?" said Leonard. "So that wouldn't be a reason for not going back to work."

Penny shrugged but thought about that for a minute. If I'm honest with myself, after all this crying, maybe going back to work isn't really the problem. She shook her head and continued thinking about it.

16 August 10:30 PM

Leonard and Penny had done almost all their nightly preparations before getting into bed. It has been a lazy Sunday. The twins were good after their early morning outburst. Most of the day was spent playing with the twins and watching movies, with an afternoon nap for the adults.

Penny finished putting on her hand lotion, then slid under the covers. Leonard was already there and turned off the light. As they snuggled up to each other, Penny said, "Leonard."

"What, Penny?"

She reached into his boxers, began rubbing him, and said, "It's been five and a half weeks, wanna have sex?"

Leonard reached down and stopped her, "Penny, you know we can't. The doctor said six weeks, not five and a half."

"Please Leonard," said Penny.

"I'd rather wait until my mother leaves," said Leonard. "That way we won't be tempted to do it while she's here."

"But, I want to do it now," said Penny. "Get it done, now, before she gets here."

"Penny, the doctor said six weeks," said Leonard. "And, you know if we do it now, we'll want to with my mother here. I don't want to do it now and possibly mess you up and then have to wait for even longer. I'm sure you can wait for another four days."

"I can't wait," said Penny. "You won't mess me up. She said I was healing fine, I should be done. And, you can take it as slow as you want, if you're afraid of hurting me.

"No Penny, we need to wait," said Leonard.

"Pleeeeeeeeese, Leonard," begged Penny. "Please, please, please, please, please. I can handle it, pretty please."

Leonard felt himself starting to give in, it was rare that Penny ever begged him for sex and it was a bit of a turn-on. Just as he was about to agree, he could hear the cries coming over the baby monitor.

Penny cried out, "Noooooo, dammit, not now."

Leonard chuckled, then said, "I'll get them. You get to sleep so you can get up early to get your exercises and running in. With that Leonard got up. Thirty minutes later, he came back to be and found Penny asleep. He kissed her forehead and climbed into bed next to her.