It's time to get together with their friends.

I own nothing

The girls were meeting at Leonard and Penny's apartment 4A. It had been a while since they had all met together and this was going to be one of the first for Alex.

Since Max and Jenny were born, things were very hectic for Penny. She was learning the new routines of taking care of twins and she was also reluctant to have Leonard too far away. When Penny called around, they decided to have this little gathering at Penny's partly because it was tradition, partly because it would be so much easier with the kids. Penny had thought of having Leonard stay home with the babies and just painting the town red with the girls. She then thought better of it while breast feeding. She just didn't want to be away from her children. She couldn't wait till the girls got there. She missed having just girl talk. The guys were great, but with just the girls, you could really talk about things. And just like Vegas… What's SAID at Girl's Night… STAYS at Girl's Night. Penny had felt so different since the babies were born, she wanted to know what the girls thought about her. Did she change? Should she still try to be an actress? Was just being a waitress good enough for her….. and more importantly…. Leonard? Should she continue with college? She had so many questions, she hoped she didn't take all the time for just herself.

Bernadette had been very busy at work recently and made every effort to spend as much time as she could with Howard when they both had alone time. They still needed to work in time with his mother, her parents and their friends. When their group got together, it was usually over at Penny and Leonard's so the kids could be put down and everything could be as normal as possible. Bernadette was so happy that they were having a Girl's Night. She was having so many conflicting thoughts about her career and maybe having kids. She knew that this was something she should be talking to Howard about, but he was just so sensitive about the topic of kids. Bernadette had sworn her mother in law and her own mother to secrecy. She just wanted to get some more perspective from her friends.

Amy was kept busy with her Monkey studies as well as having her requisite time allotted to her with Sheldon under the Relationship Agreement. Lately, Sheldon had taken to calling her at unscheduled times and requesting that she come over. Sheldon sometimes had the need to go someplace, other times he just seemed to want the extra company. Amy could hardly wait to get to Penny's. Sheldon seemed like he was moving their relationship. To where, exactly, Amy had no idea. She needed to get a "Girly Perspective" that was not influenced by the analytical scientific analysis she normally used. She needed to here from her friends, what they thought of Sheldon's admission.

Alex was most recently very busy with her PhD defense. That required her to spend extra at the University writing up her results. She had not minded, since she got to spend some time with Raj because he was her advisor. This was also nice for her because she and Raj had started to spend more and more time together on a personal level. After Raj found the ability to talk to women, Alex found that he was really quite interesting. It turned out that they had quite a lot in common. Alex also thought that Raj was very sweet and considerate along with being cute and attractive. Most recently, their relationship had become physical. This was something that she thought was very nice. Raj turned out to be a very attentive and tender lover. He was also not against trying just about anything in the bedroom. Alex was very confused. She had told her father and he had told her to think about all her options. She needed help, the kind a girl could only get from another girl. Bernadette, Amy and Penny were just starting to be her friends. She wondered if dropping this news on them was too soon in their relationship. Alex was so nervous, she felt a little nauseous. Alex had to stop at a diner to use the restroom. As she wiped her face with a cool moist towel she looked in the mirror wondering how she was going to get through this.

The guys met at Raj's apartment. He had suggested it because he could cook up some really fantastic snacks. He thought that this would be a good time to ask his friends for some advice about Alex. He didn't know what to do. He didn't want to pressure her but did want to find out where they as a couple stood in her eyes. The Skype with his parents was a complete disaster. He could only hope that Priya could smooth that over. The guys were his only hope. Howard and Leonard were both married now and Leonard had children. He needed help from his friends, even Sheldon. Talking to women was still new to him and this subject would be hard for any man. For Raj, this conversation with Alex was like scaling Mt. Everest. He felt like he was walking on an ice field and his relationship with Alex could fall to its doom if he didn't handle it right.

Howard was just happy to spend a night with the guys. Lately, it had been hard to get everyone together. Bernadette had been spending a lot of time at work on her projects and the only thing left was for Howard to sit at home and play video games on the couch. Something seemed to be on Bernadette's mind when she did get home from work. Sometimes it seemed that she was preoccupied with something, something that she wasn't telling him about. Just to keep the peace at home, Howard would throw a load of laundry in the car and take it over to his mother's so she could wash and fold it. Maybe Bernadette had told something to Penny or Amy or even Alex. Now that Raj and Alex were seeing each other, the four of them were together a lot and Bernadette and Alex seemed to be hitting it off pretty good. Maybe one of the girls let slip what was bothering her.

Leonard was kind of happy to get out. He hadn't seen the guys outside of work except for an occasional dinner at his place. He had always liked those times but missed when they would get together for a marathon of vintage videogames or movies. At least he thought he had missed it. Right at this moment, driving over to Raj's with Sheldon, he was missing being at home with his family. He hoped that he hadn't put too much emphasis on staying home. Penny always liked going out and they didn't do much of that anymore except have the occasional dinner with the group. He wondered if she was missing doing stuff and he didn't want to pressure her to be the perfect mom. His family was important to him and he wanted Max and Jenny to know just how much he loved them. Leonard needed a little advice on how to spice up his marriage to keep Penny happy.

Sheldon seemed like he was just put out. According to the neighbor agreement, the videogame nights were supposed to be scheduled in 4A, and the Girl's Night activities were supposed to be scheduled in 4B. He was annoyed that they needed to be displaced and then to think that he was going to eat some concoction that Koothrapali cooked up was pure madness.

A knock came at the door and Penny rushed to open it. Bernadette stood with three bottles of wine in her hands. Penny reached out with open arms to hug her friend. "Bernadette… thanks for coming… I feel like we haven't done this in like… forever…"

Bernadette wheezed a little as Penny squeezed the stuffing out of her. "Penny…. Penny…. We just had thai take out three days ago with everybody… oof….."

Penny let go and took the wine closing the door as Bernadette went over to the couch. "Yeah… I know…. But this is just different…. Just us girls…"

The door knocked again as Penny put the wine on the coffee table. Penny ran to get it. Amy was standing on the other side with three cartons of ice cream. Penny immediately through her arms around her Bestie. "Ames….. it's so good to see you….."

Amy was just a little surprised at the greeting. When the squeezing let up enough to get a word out, Amy commented. "As much as I may have dreamed about this in the past, I had never envisioned this happening with an ice cream coating."

Penny immediately let go of her friend and took the ice cream over to the freezer for proper storage until it would be needed for later. "Sorry, Sorry… I just miss you guys…"

Amy came over to the couch and sat next to Bernadette. "That was interesting".

Bernadette smiled back. "She's two for two tonight… I almost passed out from the hug I got".

Just then, the door knocked a third time. Penny looked over at the door. Bernadette and Amy looked at Penny. Amy stood and went forward to Penny as Bernadette went for the door. It almost looked like a planned football play having Amy block as Bernadette went for an End Around.

Bernadette chirped out, "I'll get it….. It's probably Alex…"

Bernadette opened the door to find Alex standing at the door with a bag of Chocolate Chip Cookies from the specialty bakery down on Colorado Boulevard.

Alex smiled as she entered the apartment. Penny had come over and gave Alex a small hug as she looked into the bag of cookies. "OOOH…. These are SOOOO…. Good!... Thanks Alex, please come in and have a seat." Alex sat down on the couch next to Amy and Bernadette.

Penny gathered up their jackets and put them in the closet behind the couch and sat on Leonard's chair. "OK girls… how are we going to start this night off?"

The guys were sitting around Raj's apartment setting up the video game system. Sheldon had insisted on bringing one of the old systems, N64. He brought a number of the old games and planned on catching up on lost time.

Raj was taking some baked pretzels out of the oven as Howard pulled some beer out of the fridge.

Leonard was just pulling up some new pictures of Jenny and Max from his phone to show to the guys.