The Duality Synthesis, Chapter 5 by patricia51

(I still need you there beside me)

"Well," Alex said thoughtfully as she surveyed the room, a large trash bag in one hand. "If the measure of a good party..."

"Get-together," corrected her husband from where he was sprawled on the couch.

"I stand corrected. I forgot that Sheldon does not attend parties; only get-togethers. However, to continue, if the measure of a good 'get-together' is determined by the amount of cleaning up required afterwards than I'd say we had a smashing success of a house warming."

"It WAS fun sweetheart. I think there will be many more gatherings like this and even more nights of friends just dropping by for the evening." He chuckled. "Speaking of Sheldon I really am proud of him."

"I am too," admitted his wife. "Thank goodness Amy was here to keep him calm. There were a couple of times when I thought he was going to either run screaming out the door or absolutely blow his top. In fact he did almost faint when we started, well you know what."

"Well what did you expect?" Leonard laughed. "This is a man who compared Raj putting on reggae music and Priya taking her shoes off to the 'Last Days of Caligula'. He must have thought he had been tossed into Sodom and Gomorrah, in which I'm sure his mother and her church gave him a thorough grounding."

(Earlier)

Bernadette and Howard had arrived first. Right on their heels were Penny with her new US Marshal boyfriend Mike Gibson, accompanied by Mandy. Jackets and coats were deposited in the spare bedroom. As Alex directed them to the table where she had set out drinks and appetizers her best friend and former maid of honor Sally arrived with her boyfriend Danny and several other of Alex's friends, attached and unattached.

Very shortly a timid face peered through the door after a knock that no one would have heard had not Alex been expecting it. She rushed to the door and escorted Lucy to the relative quiet of the kitchen area.

"Is Raj parking the car?" the girl nodded, clutching her smartphone in her hands. "Are Stuart and Alice with him?" Another nod followed. "Do you want to go into the spare room until they get here?" The shy girl answered by fleeing through the indicated door.

Alex sighed. Lucy was such a sweet girl and she and Raj were good together and good for each other but sometimes it seemed Lucy was going farther back into her shell rather that coming out of it. She met Raj and the others with a raised eyebrow and a jerk of her head to indicate where Lucy had gone. Raj rushed after her while Alice explained what had happened.

"Lucy is desperately trying to get more self-control and composure. But she gets wild ideas and overdoes it like she did just now. She suddenly announced she would go first and bolted from the car before Raj had even turned the engine off. I'm actually surprised that she made it all the way up here without freaking out."

"Well maybe she IS getting better," the doctoral student mused thoughtfully. She pointed the comic book store owner and artist towards the food and checked on the couple in the other room. Furious tapping noises indicated a full blown conversation was in progress via text message. After a while the two managed to leave the room and find a safe corner where Howard and Bernadette were already talking to Stuart and Alice as well as, to Alex's surprise, a couple of her old friends as well. Well, that was what she was hoping for after all, that Leonard's friends and her friends would mingle.

That just left Sheldon and Amy. Alex tried not to fret as the time passed. She circulated, chatting away with everyone, happy at the good time everyone seemed to be having. Leonard was deeply engrossed in a discussion with Mike and Sally's boyfriend Danny whom she recalled was a member of the Pasadena Fire Department. Even so she noticed that occasionally his eyes strayed to the door.

"Don't worry," Penny said as she came up beside Alex. "He'll be here."

"I hope so. No matter how irritating Sheldon can be he IS Leonard's best friend and for him not to come would make Leonard unhappy."

"And we know how you take action when Leonard is unhappy," Penny grinned.

Alex laughed. Whoever would have thought just a few months ago that she and Penny could possibly end up becoming friends? It was impossible and yet it had happened.

Just then a knock sounded.

"Leonard and Alex. Leonard and Alex. Leonard and Alex."

Alex smothered a sigh of relief. "Please come in Sheldon. And Amy," she added as the female biologist actually entered the apartment first, pulling Sheldon behind her. "We're very glad that you made it."

"Humphh," observed Sheldon as he looked around the apartment. He rapidly counted people. "Oh my." He paled.

Leonard sprang from the couch where he was sitting and hurried to his friend. "It's okay Sheldon. There will be no trampling this evening."

"But there's more than seventeen people," Sheldon objected. "Seventeen adults or thirty four children."

"I know," Leonard said soothingly. "We'll just make sure that we keep them in small groups."

With Alex and Amy's help Sheldon made it to the buffet.

"The non-alcoholic drinks are over there," Alex pointed. "And you can have a little umbrella for yours," she pointed again.

"You're serving alcohol?" Sheldon asked aghast. "That almost makes this a party!"

"It IS a party Sheldon," Alex returned patiently. "A house-warming party but never-the-less a party. Here, get something to eat. You might enjoy this chili. It's a special recipe."

"Does it have beans in it?"

"Of course not."

"Because real chili doesn't have beans," Sheldon plowed on, oblivious to Alex having already answered him.

"I know."

"Priya once served something with beans she called chili. It was good, whatever it was but it wasn't chili."

"No beans."

"Thank you Alex," Amy interjected. She started helping Sheldon fill his plate and carefully placed an umbrella in the glass she got for him.

Leonard found his attention wrenched back to a spirited discussion among some of the crowd who were discussing the future of space flight and what it would mean to national defense and the role of private corporations in both areas. He was only vaguely aware of some of the Sheldonian goings on around them ("I'm sorry you were the last to arrive Sheldon but I'm not going to ask everyone to stand so you can try out every seat in the house" being answered by a puzzled look and "Why not?").

He caught occasional mumbled comments about "People don't listen" when his friend attempted to steer conversations to a subject he wanted and found he was ignored as well as his popular "Everyone is having fun wrong" disapproval of a spirited tug of war taking place with the couch as the centerline.

Leonard did look around the room as Alex turned the music up and the people pulled the chairs as well as the previously offending couch towards the walls. Sheldon was looking appalled already although Amy was holding him tightly, whether to keep him from an outburst or hoping to get him to join in Leonard had no idea. Then the pulsating rhythm of one of Alex's favorite artists filled the room. As the song reached its chorus Alex was grabbing his hands and pulling him to her. Her eyes were shinning as she was singing along with the song.

"I wanna dance with somebody, with somebody who loves me."

As he came into his wife's irresistible arms he could see Bernadette and Howard joining them on one side and Penny and Mike on the other and then he forgot all about Sheldon Cooper.

(The present)

"Well he survived, we survived and the litter around here is a small price to pay for it all." Alex started to pick up a stack of paper plates when Leonard suddenly caught her by the back of her skirt and pulled her into his lap.

"Cleanup can wait until morning," he mock growled as he nuzzled her ear. And it turned out that the cleanup was postponed indeed until the next morning. Late the next morning.

(Some months later)

What amazed Leonard over the following months was how he and Alex had so quickly settled in together like an old married couple. Well, not like HIS parents had been when they had been an old married couple, or probably a new married couple in fact. But more like what he had always dreamed a couple should be; comfortable with each other, happy to watch TV or a movie cuddled up on the couch or sit and read in perfect silence together.

Of course given the girl he was married when they were reading together Alex likely as not would have her feet in his lap or her head on his shoulder. And sometimes things were reversed, with him stretched out and his head pillowed in her lap. But all of those times were wonderful.

Not that they spent all their time at home. Alex tended to be the more spontaneous of the pair, surprising him and sweeping him away to whatever event or activity her imagination had pounced on. More and more Leonard found to his delight something might catch his eye and he would think "Alex would love that!" and then discovering that she, that THEY, did.

Okay, so they didn't all pan out. But most did and in the rare cases they didn't the pair honored the agreement to tell each other. Well, most of the time he thought. Alex was a pretty good cook, better than Leonard although he wasn't bad. However every now and then she would get inspired by some recipe she found online or in a magazine and whip up some marvelous culinary creation. Some were good, most were not bad and a few were really bad. A couple hadn't even been good enough to qualify as "awful". But he always gamely tried to eat and smile no what the end result was. And Alex wasn't dumb (and always sampled her "masterpieces" with him). The really bad stuff never reappeared.

Not that they didn't fight occasionally. But unlike his parents there was no screaming invectives and name calling, no icy indifference and psychological dismembering of the other party. Sometimes there was arm waving, sometimes there were raised voices. But they always worked it out while still staying friends. Besides, the making up was always worth the fight. So all in all Leonard was as happy as he had ever been in his life.

Today he was the one pacing back and forth in their apartment. Alex had left him a voice mail telling him she had important news that she needed to tell him as soon as they got home and no don't call her back as she wasn't spilling it on the phone. So he had left early and now was waiting as patiently as he could. He admitted that wasn't very patient.

He heard the elevator ding through the open door and then Alex was flying through it and into his waiting arms.

"Guess what?" Not waiting for a reply she went on. "The committee accepted my thesis. I m getting my doctorate!"

"That's wonderful!"

"Uh-huh. We'll be the Doctors Hofstadter."

"That calls for a celebration. Do you want to go out?"

"No I'd rather stay home tonight. We can tell everyone else about it this weekend at Penny and Mike's get-together."

"Well how about some champagne then? We'd have to chill it but that could be done while we have dinner."

"No. I'm afraid no champagne, now or for quite a while."

"Why is that?" a puzzled Leonard asked.

"No alcohol for me for quite a while." She stood on her toes and whispered in his ears.

Years after he first thought of it a long ago statement of his was going to come true. It wasn't the same woman he thought of back then but both conditions would be satisfied.

"Our babies will be smart AND beautiful."

"And not imaginary either Sheldon," he added as he held his pregnant wife close.

(To be continued)

(Note: The song lyrics Alex pulls Leonard up to dance to are from the beautiful, tragic and sadly missed Whitney Houston's "I wanna dance with somebody".)