Here's an update for you! My weekend plans fell through, so you're getting a new chapter a bit earlier than I'd expected. I don't expect any of you mind.
And I still only own the babies.
When Iris and Savannah asked if they could go to the park, Penny was grateful for an excuse to get out of the building, off of Los Robles, and out of Pasadena. The past two days had included two stressful loads of laundry, Amy slamming her door shut at the sight of Penny and Leonard in a similar way that Penny had done upon seeing Leonard and Sheldon after what she thought had been a sexual experience with Raj, and a walk up four flights of stairs next to the neurobiologist that was about as awkward as Penny's identical experience with Priya.
Upon Savannah and Iris running up to her, putting their hands on her knees as she nursed Ada and asked, with big smiles on their faces, to get away for a few hours, Penny practically had them in the car by the time they'd finished their query, and had them out to the park almost before they could cheer in response to her agreeing to take them.
Now, thirty five minutes after reaching the park, they were playing hopscotch on the pavement, getting smiles from the joggers going by, while Penny sat in the grass about five feet away, Ada on her back next to her. The baby kicked her feet and smiled up at her mother.
"If you don't start crawling soon," Penny told her youngest daughter, tickling the girl's stomach and smiling as the baby laughed and drew her knees up, "I'm gonna start getting worried about you. Your big sister was crawling shortly after she was five months old. You're six weeks behind! And I suppose I'm lucky you don't know what I'm saying, because in thirteen years me comparing you to Savvy like this could come back to bite me in the ass."
She flipped Ada over and held her so her hands and knees touched the ground. The baby squirmed and made a discontented sound. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry," Penny said, lifting her up and cuddling her. "You're okay.'"
"oooooo aye" Ada said, putting her hand up to Penny's lips.
"Okay," Penny repeated, recognizing that her daughter was trying to imitate the word.
"ooooo aye," Ada said again.
Penny nodded. "Okay!"
Ada laughed. Penny did too. "I suppose that will do for now," she said, looking up to check on the older girls. They'd abandoned their hopscotch game and were playing two person leap frog. "Don't go to far, girls!" Penny called.
"Yes mama!" Savannah said.
"Yes, Aunt Penny," Iris said at the same time. They turned around and leap frogged back.
"Mama," Savannah said, skipping over to Penny and putting her hand on her knee again.
"What do you want?" Penny asked, recognizing the girl's set up for asking for something.
"You said you'd get me a dog."
"I don't remember that," Penny said.
"Mommy!"
"What brought this on?" she asked. A bark answered her question – upon a turn of her head she could see a pre-adolescent girl laying in the grass with a Labrador. "We'll see. When Mommy and Daddy get married, maybe."
"Can we get ice cream?" Iris asked.
Penny suddenly felt exhausted at all the jumping around the girls were doing. "If we go right now, we can get ice cream. Then I gotta take you back to your house, Iris. Your daddy is coming back from his business trip today."
Penny grabbed Savannah's hand as they reached the fourth floor and urged her to walk faster. "Can we eat with Uncle Sheldon and Aunt Amy tonight?" the girl asked.
"No," Penny said.
"Why?"
"Because they're busy," Penny said. "They don't want to be disturbed. Remember how Daddy talked to you about respect?"
"R-E-S-P-E-C-T," Savannah said.
"Very good," Penny praised. "Respect."
"esssssssssss," Ada said from Penny's arms.
"No, R," Savannah told her sister. "R-E-S-P-E-C-T."
"She was trying to say 'respect'," Penny said. "But she can't make the 'R' sound yet."
"Member when I used to say lellow instead of yellow?"
"I do."
They walked in silence until Penny unlocked the door to their apartment, and Savannah, who had been walking much longer than she would usually, broke into a run and headed for her room.
Penny carried Ada into her and Leonard's room and sat the baby up against the pillows, taking the book she'd grabbed from the counter out from under her arm and settling down next to the baby. "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish," she said, showing Ada the cover. "Red Fish," she repeated, pointing at the corresponding illustration. "Red. Blue fish…blue." She looked at Ada, who seemed interested, but not giving any signs that she understood. "Do you want me to read the book to you, Ada?" Penny asked.
"Heeeeeee," Ada responded, reaching a hand toward the book. Penny smiled and scooted down so her head wasn't too far above Ada's, curling her arm around the girl and opening the book. Her motion pulled her shirt up so the very top of her scar was visible. But Penny didn't care.
Why does it matter where he got it? Charlie's Grandpa Joe had said in the "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" movie. Point is, he got it.
Finally, Penny was able to agree. It didn't matter in the slightest how Ada had gotten here.
Penny sighed as she began to read to the baby, wondering if Amy would ever know that she'd actually helped Penny fully realize that. And if she did ever know, Penny wondered if she'd care.