The Wolowitz Conclusion

Chapter eleven

Raj Koothrappali stood in Mumbi airport staring up at the screens. He looked everywhere for his flight but he couldn't see it. He knew it had been there, but he couldn't see it now, he couldn't see anything now, tears had started to form behind his eyes and were clouding them. He decided to sit down and listen for his flight to be called. He had gone through security and was now waiting for the gate to be called.

This trip home to India had seemed like the longest yet. When he left Hannah was new in the office and still the talk of the water cooler. He had a feeling she liked Howard, but never thought for one minute that Howard would do that to Bernadette. He hadn't been sitting there for too long before the gate number was announced and, as always, the gate was a good twenty minute walk away from where he was sat. he stood up, grabbed is carry on bag and joined the other passengers walking swiftly towards the gate. He reached it and sat back down again, texting Penny as he did

Just boarding the plane, got to change at Dubai. See you soon, can't wait to meet baby Kristian. Raj xx

Once Raj had gotten off the plane in Dubai and through the airport including security he made his way to the new gate ready for the second leg of his journey. Raj was one of the first people to board the plane. Having going backwards and forwards over the last few years, he had built up a lot of frequent flyer points and enjoyed the benefits that came with that. He sat in his seat by the window, put the blanket over him and his headphones in getting ready for the sixteen flight ahead of him. he was used to this travelling, but not used to having to come back early because of his friend's infidelity. The seats next to him were both empty right up until the last minute when a beautiful redhead walked on followed by a little girl of about 6 or 7.

"Emily?" Raj shouted, a little louder than initially intended "how are you?"

"I'm good" Emily answered giving Raj a big hug while the other passengers looked at them both "this is my daughter, Sally"

"hello beautiful" Raj smiled, holding his hand out for the little girl to shake it "it's lovely to meet you"

"hello" the nervous little girl smiled sweetly at Raj "I'm five years old"

"oh wow" Raj exclaimed in the way that most people do when children are near "I'm Raj"

"I'm Sally"

"right Sally" Emily interrupted the bonding that was going on between the two "you know what we have to do now"

"toilet before take-off" Sally smiled before skipping off towards the bathroom "come on Mommy"

Raj watched as his ex-girlfriend followed her daughter towards the bathroom. Sally was beautiful, a complete copy of her mother in everyway that he could see. He looked at them both as they came back and sat in their seats.

"would you like the window seat?" Raj offered "you can see the airport as we take off"

"yes please" Sally smiled, "is that okay, Mommy"

"of course" Emily looked at Raj "thank you, Raj"

"my pleasure"

As Emily and Sally got settled into their seats, Raj grinned. He had done exactly what he wanted. It looked like he was being thoughtful and considerate of Sally's feelings, when actually he was just making sure he'd be sat next to Emily for the next sixteen hours. He decided to wait to talk to her more until they had taken off as Sally was taking all of Emily's attention right now. Raj watched how loving and affectionate Emily was with her daughter, exactly what he thought she would be like and remembered their relationship, how good it had been until Raj screwed it up by dating both her and Claire at the same time.

"So…" Emily started the conversation to a unsuspecting Raj "hows things with you"

"Good" Raj answered "well, not really, but I don't want to bore you with the story"

"we've got sixteen hours" Emily reminded him "tell me, oh how's the guys, Leonard, Sheldon, Howard, Penny? Fill me in on everyone"

"well," Raj thought he'd better start with the good bits "Leonard and Penny have four children now"

"really?" Emily couldn't believe it "four? I can just about cope with one"

"yeah, Megan is eight, she just broke her leg unfortunately"

"oh, no"

"yeah, playing football"

"oh bless her"

"then there's Elliot who's five, Alice is three and Kristian is two weeks"

"oh a tiny one" Emily squealed "I love babies"

"yeah I haven't met him yet" Raj got out his phone to show her the photos "but he's handsome"

"looks just like Leonard"

"yeah"

"how about Sheldon and Amy? I heard they got married"

"yeah, erm, Sheldon died a few months ago"

"oh my god, what happened"

"car accident" Raj wiped the tears away from his eyes "we're still getting over it"

"I bet" Emily put her hand on his knee "how's Amy coping"

"she's not" Raj said truthfully "her and the kids have moved into Leonard and Penny's"

"kids?"

"yeah, they have Stephen, he's nearly seven and then Harmony and Melody, they're three"

"so, tell me about Howard and Bernadette" Emily smiled before realising Raj's face "have I said something wrong?"

"they're getting a divorce" Raj felt even more tears "Howard had an affair"

"oh"

"that's why I'm going back early, to help sort things out" Raj didn't want to talk about these things any more, it was all too painful, Raj was pleased that Leonard and Penny had had drunken unprotected sex nearly ten months ago. Kristian was the shining light in the middle of the storm they were going through "so tell me about you"

"well, me and Gary didn't work out" Emily shrugged referring to the boyfriend she had last time they met "but I've got my little Sally now, so it's not all bad"

"she's beautiful" Raj cooed, "she looks just like you"

"thank you"