Another update because I promised Brit. And because it's still nearly ninety minutes from the super late hour at which I have been going to bed.

"Are we ready to do this?" Penny asked in a low voice as she joined Leonard near the fridge.

He turned to face her. "This is low, Penny."

She looked down. "Maybe a little." She looked back up at him, her eyes bright with hope. "But if it doesn't work, she won't know what we did. Actually, if it does work, she won't know. It's completely foolproof in terms of getting her more upset at me than she already is."

"But it's not foolproof in terms of actually serving your purpose," Leonard reminded her.

"Negative results are still results," she told him.

"If I had a dime for every time I heard that, let me tell you," Leonard said. "We would be rich."

Penny smiled. "So, are you ready?"

Leonard nodded. "Let's give it a try."

"Does this count as me running an experiment?" Penny asked.

"Well, we would need to define the…"

"I'm taking that as a yes." She kissed his cheek. "If this works, we'll do it in the laundry room tonight."

"Such high stakes," Leonard said. "Why the laundry room?"

"Because I have to do laundry and I want you to help me."

He gave a little laugh. "Okay. Deal."

Penny smiled at him, and then turned toward the hallway. "Savannah! Where are you, silly girl?"

She grinned at Leonard as they heard the sound of her feet rapidly hitting the floor, and then saw their daughter run out into the living area. "Come here, baby girl," Penny said, holding out her arms, and when Savannah jumped into them, Penny lifted her up.

The girl instantly noticed the new photograph on the fridge. "Aunt Amy and Mommy!" she said.

"Hmmm?" Penny said, pretending not to know what she was talking about. "Oh, this. Yes, I found it. Doesn't Aunt Amy look really pretty?"

"Yes," Savannah said. "So do you."

"Why, thank you," Penny said.

"Mommy, I miss Aunt Amy."

"Do you?" Penny said. "I miss her too."

"Hey," Leonard said, "I hate to interrupt this cuddle you guys have going on, but I need to head into work."

Penny almost forgot what they were doing and reminded him that it was Saturday. "Okay. Savannah, say bye bye to Daddy."

As the little girl hugged her father, he looked over at Penny. "What if this ends up hurting her?" He mouthed.

"What?"

"I mean, what if it doesn't work out the way we want, and Savannah gets upset?"

"She won't."

"How do you know?"

Penny just knew. Because I know Amy. And you said yourself, no one can get upset with Savannah. She's the good parts of both of us. The parts that no one can dislike.

But what she mouthed back to Leonard was trust me.

So he left, but not before kissing her and whispering trickery and deceit. I suppose Sheldon would approve, smiling at both of them, and reminding Penny that he'd be home early today. He headed downstairs. He'd only be going to the third floor, in case Savannah didn't do what they thought she would.

And as he was supposed to, he left the apartment door open. Just a little bit.

Penny was pretending to cook, but her peripheral vision was on the door. Savannah was standing near her, staring up at the picture of Penny and Amy. Then, like Penny and Leonard had hoped, she glanced at the door. She looked to her mother for one moment, and, satisfied that Penny actually wasn't watching her, she walked over, turned her body to the side to fit through the gap, and exited the apartment.

Penny sucked in a breath and then let it out shakily. Their plan was simple, just a few steps, just one requirement: that Leonard was right about what he'd said to her in Nebraska. That Savannah was the part of them that no one could resent.

Sheldon and Amy were watching Doctor Who. Amy had picked the T.V. show the previous night. Sheldon wasn't a fan of alternating who made the decisions; he had spent much of his life having the control over such things, but she insisted. And so little made Amy happy these days.

There was a soft, quiet knock at the door. Or perhaps not too quiet, Sheldon reasoned, for Amy heard it too, and she had no Vulcan senses. "Who is it?" Sheldon asked.

There wasn't an answer.

"I've got it," Amy said, getting up. She looked through the peep hole, but didn't see anyone. "Odd. Probably some practical joker."

"It's New Year's Eve's Eve," Sheldon said. "No one practical jokes today."

"Last year on December 30th you said 'bazinga' three times."

"Those were classic pranks. Not practical jokes."

Amy rolled her eyes, slid the chain over, and opened the door.

A five year old version of Penny stared up at her, a smile on her face big enough to match her large eyes. And to match the enthusiasm in her voice when she held her arms up and exclaimed, "Aunt Amy!"

Amy unexpectedly felt tears come to her eyes. She dropped to her knees and pulled Savannah into her arms.

Sorry this was short, but the next one will likely be pretty long.

Also, I don't condone using children to solve your problems; this is a very specific instance where Penny and Leonard thought they had a good chance at fixing things. And it goes back, at the very least, to Penny telling Sheldon that he and Amy are a part of her daughters lives.

And this isn't a magic fix. There's still some stuff to come.