The Wolowitz Conclusion

Chapter fourteen

The weekend drew to a close and it was Monday morning again. The school run went as smoothly as possible with Bernadette having to explain to Halley and Michael's teachers what had happened over the weekend. It had been the kind of weekend that everyone wanted to forget, a lot had happened and Leonard was pleased that Stephanie had given him the next four weeks off as he wouldn't been able to face work this morning.

Megan had decided to face school again this week, Penny didn't really want her to go as she knew it was still painful, but Megan promised she'd tell her teacher to call if she couldn't manage it any more. She also wanted to go to the after school day-care, even though she didn't have to because both Leonard and Penny were off, she said she wanted to be there for Halley and Michael. Today was going to be very difficult for them and Megan didn't want wait either of them to be upset or to feel alone.

Leonard took the Hofstadter and Cooper kids to school and day care that morning. After the busyness of the school run, Penny went back to bed, since driving Raj back from the airport and staying up late talking things through with everyone she was tired and achy. Penny picked up the baby and snuggled down with him in their bed. Kristian didn't mind. He loved the closeness of his Mommy and Daddy cuddling him so just made the most of it. With a mixture of sleeping and feeding Kristian and Penny spent the whole day in bed. For some of the time Leonard joined them. All three of taking the rarity of an empty house as a chance to bond. Kristian was such a laid back baby, the textbook forth child, he had settled in well to the Hofstadter house and with his extended family.

As Saturday rolled around again, it was time for Raj's date with Emily. He took her to the Cheesecake Factory, remembering all the times they had spent there the last time they were dating. He chose the corner table and sat down, just the two of them.

"this is nice" Emily smiled, looking at Raj "it was nice of Penny to take Sally for us"

"agreed" Raj smiled back, he wasn't quite sure if this was real. For as long as he could remember he missed Emily, he regretted breaking up with her and thought of her as the one that got away "thank you for agreeing to coming"

"I regretted letting you go" Emily admitted, almost reading his mind "I wish I fought harder to keep you"

"so lets make the most of this" Raj smiled "its lovely to see you with Sally, she's lovely"

"I wish her dad thought so" Emily sighed "we haven't seen him in nearly four years"

"the poor girl" Raj shook his head, thinking this was the way Halley and Michael were heading with Howard "doesn't her Dad want to see her"

"nope" Emily shrugged "apparently his son with his new partner is much more important than Sally."

"that's not fair" Raj shook his head again "I'd never do that to my child"

"you know," Emily smiled holding his hands "I don't normally date, because I don't trust how people are going to be with Sally, but you, you're different"

"I try" Raj smiled, "I treat all the kids that belong to my friends like I would my own, I don't see any reason why I wouldn't treat Sally the same"

"so let's give this a try" Emily surprised herself, but it was easy with Raj, she knew he was telling the truth when he said that. In the short time it had taken to drop Sally off at Penny's, Emily had seen the way he was treating Megan, the ease at which they talked to each other and the love that shone from Megan's eyes for her uncle Raj.

"sounds good" Raj agreed "let's eat"

Sally seemed to settle well at Leonard and Penny's, she got on really well with Elliot and loved playing with Alice too. As the time went on Penny thought about Raj, he deserved some happiness. Yes it had been his fault that he and Emily hadn't worked out the first time, but back then he was a 20 year old in a 30 year old's body. Spending his 20s unable to talk to women had set him right back in the relationship world and he was making silly mistakes. This time, however, wild oats had been sewn and he was much more mature in every way. Penny hoped that Emily would see this and give him another chance. They were good together and Penny knew that, if they got that far, Raj would make a great stepdad for Sally.

"let's go out" Bernadette made Penny jump "I feel like going out for lunch"

"what about Sally" Penny laughed "I don't know if Emily would be happy with that"

"it's okay" Bernadette reassured her "I text Raj and got him to ask her, she said its fine"

"let's go then"

Penny put Kristian into his stroller and rounded up the rest of the kids. The walk to the diner was about 20 minutes but it was a walk they had done many times so no one seemed to mind. All three of the girls felt comfortable there, knowing it was very child friendly and there was a soft play there for the children to play in. penny was pleased that sally was happy to make the walk, she seemed to have attached herself to Elliot and was now walking holding his hand. Penny was also impressed with Megan. She had practically mastered her crutches and was much more confident on longer walks. She stuck with Stephen, that wasn't unusual. They always seemed to stick together.

As soon as they reached the diner, Megan had to sit down. She had done really well, but her leg and arms were starting to ache about. Penny was so proud of her eldest daughter. She had broken her leg, become a big sister again and volunteered as Halley's unofficial counsellor all in a few weeks and Penny knew it hadn't been easy. Megan found the biggest table she could and sat down on a chair throwing her crutches to the floor as she did. The other's joined her around the table and looked through the menu

"oh no" Penny looked over her menu at the group at the next table "I can't believe this"

"what's wrong?" Bernadette asked her, unsure if she wanted to know the answer

"that's her" Penny sighed, gesturing to the young blonde that was one of the group "that's Hannah"

"that's Hannah?" Bernadette felt like she had shrunk to about two inches tall in the last two seconds "that's the girl that ruined my marriage?"

"yes" Penny admitted "I'm so sorry"

"it's not your fault" Bernadette shrugged "you didn't know she would be here"

"do you want to talk to her?" Penny hoped not, she wasn't sure if she could manage another of Bernadette's melt downs if it didn't go well, and how could it

"I don't know" Bernadette answered "do you think I should"

"I don't know either"

"maybe I'll see how it goes"

However, Bernadette didn't get to make the choice, it was made for her. As Hannah approached the table Penny was unsure if she knew who Bernadette was, she assumed not, they had not met before, but what if there had been photos of the two of them on Howard's desk or something

"hello Mrs Hofstadter" Hannah smiled sheepishly "I didn't know whether to come over or not, but I thought it would be less awkward if I did"

"hello" Penny looked at her before pointing to Bernadette "that's Howard's wife"

"I guess I was wrong about it not being awkward" Hannah turned to look at her, there was a look on Bernadette's face that Hannah couldn't quite put his finger on. It was a mixture of hurt, anger, worry and the thought that Bernadette was going to kill Hannah "I'm sorry Mrs Wolowitz"

"it's Dr. Rostenkowski-Wolowitz" Bernadette corrected her" and I don't blame you, I don't like you, but I don't blame you, I blame Howard"

"fair enough, but, he told me you were getting a divorce" Hannah pleaded with her "I didn't know we were still together"

"can you leave us alone now, please" Bernadette begged "I just want to have a nice meal with my friends and the kids"

"you" Halley's voice came out of nowhere, Megan had obviously recognised Hannah and had pointed her out to Halley "you're the reason my parents aren't together anymore"

"I, I'm sorry" Hannah answered "he told me they weren't together"

"Halley, come on" Michael tried to stop her "she's not worth it"

"just leave us all alone" Bernadette begged "please"