Here is the second to last chapter. There are two days of Lenny Week left after this, but as Day 7's prompt is "Johnny and Kaley", I won't be doing a Fanfic. Even if this website allowed Real Person Fiction, I find that disrespectful, and will be doing a graphic of some sort instead.

Here is today's oneshot, "Smart and Beautiful Babies."

"She has a perfect four point oh grade point average. She has accepted and overcome every challenge that life has placed in her way. She is involved in several community projects and sponsors two children overseas. Ladies and gentlemen, join me in congratulating, from the college of environmental science, your valedictorian, Savannah Hofstadter."

Leonard and Penny exchanged proud glances as their daughter stood up and walked to the podium, her blonde hair flowing behind her the way one would see it on television. "Gosh, she's beautiful," the woman on the other side of Leonard said, leaning over to whisper to him.

Leonard nodded. "She is."

"It's an honor to be able to speak in front of all of you," Savannah started, smiling out at the audience. She launched into her speech, one that she'd rehearsed with her mother for hours.

"Do I sound natural?" she'd asked Penny. "I don't want to come off as robotic."

"You sound wonderful," Penny had assured her. "You don't need any pointers from me. You don't need an acting lesson. You're up there playing yourself, and you do that perfectly already. Just be real. That's the only advice I can really give you. Don't act. Be real."

Penny watched her daughter speak, her passion for the environment, the furthering of science education, and her school evident in her face as well as her tone, and she couldn't help but well up. She'd only become a college graduate herself four years earlier, the day after Savannah had graduated high school. The photo of both of them in their graduation robes was still one of her most prized possessions. And now, seeing her daughter hold the room captive with her eloquence, hearing people murmur to each other things like she is such a good speaker and my husband wasn't this wise at forty and, as Savannah's boyfriend whispered in her younger daughter's ear, Savannah Hofstadter, breaking blonde stereotypes since 2017, Penny swelled with pride.

Her daughter's eyes locked on her mother and father. "…and I'm sure I speak for the entirety of this graduating class that the love and support we received and continue to receive from home contributes immeasurably to our success. If it wasn't for my mother and father's early encouragement, I probably wouldn't have felt capable of tackling a science field. My father's job as an experimental physicist means that not only is he passionate about science, he knows many women who are successful in this area of study, so I was brought up understanding that women could succeed in any field. My mother returning to college as an adult, ultimately getting her degree when I was finishing high school taught me about perseverance. They are a large part of why pursued studying at this university, which was a ready available toolbox for success, and why I stand before you today, with a degree in Environmental Science…"

"Everyone in the room wants to be her right now," said the woman sitting beside Penny as Savannah began to wrap her speech up. "Just look at her. She's smart, she's beautiful, and you can tell by the way that she's speaking that she feels so strongly about everything."

Penny nodded, glancing at Leonard to see if he'd heard. He gave her a quick grin, and they returned to watching their daughter.

Savannah delivered her concluding sentences, and the applause started. She smiled out at them, her eyes fixing on her parents again. The woman who had been complimenting her to Penny did a double take as Penny held her cell phone up for a picture, as if that action made her notice the resemblance that the woman next to her held to the younger woman on stage. "She's your baby!" the woman said with surprise, motioning to Penny and Leonard.

Penny gave her a proud smile. "That's our baby. Our oldest baby."

"You must be very proud."

"We are," Penny said. "Beyond belief."

"That was such a lovely speech," the woman to Leonard's right said again, shaking her head slowly. "She has a way with the words. And you could tell that that was her up there. It was all very real. Very, very real."

Leonard slid his hand over and took one of Penny's, squeezing it, as he looked up to where his daughter was heading back to her seat. "She is," he agreed. He and Penny smiled at one another again.

Yes, she is, he thought. She's smart, beautiful, and very, very real.

Hope you liked it! I was trying to go for something that would show one of their children as smart, as well as come up with something that hasn't been done much or at all. This took me a long time to write considering it's short length - it was pretty challenging for me to write an adult child and get it to tie in to the "smart and beautiful babies" prompt, as well as referencing Sheldon's comeback line in the Pilot in the last few sentences of the chapter. Let me know what you thought!