New chapter time! Sorry for the delay. I'm not sure how I'm going to break up what I have left, but there will be between two and seven chapters left.
"Fashionably late?" Gilda asked, smiling as she let Leonard, Penny, and their daughters into the apartment.
"We had some laundry to do," Penny said, letting the older woman take Ada. She and Leonard grinned at each other.
"Oooooh," Gilda said knowingly. She bounced Ada. "Your mama and daddy got it goin' on."
"Happy New Year, Aunt Gilda," Savannah said, wanting to do as she'd been told earlier.
"Happy new year, Savvy," Gilda said. "I like your dress."
"Thank you," she said. "Where is Iris?"
"She's in Uncle Howard's closet. He's showing her some of his action figures."
"Okay!" Savannah ran off toward the bedroom.
"Are, uh, Sheldon and Amy here yet?" Penny asked. Leonard slid his arm around her waist.
"Not yet," Gilda said. "Raj and Missy just arrived, Missy's in the bathroom and I think Raj is with Howard and Iris looking at the action figures."
"What about Mark?" Leonard asked. Gilda shifted uncomfortably. "Is something wrong?"
"It's…" Gilda shrugged. "His family is having some issues. I don't know if he'll be here tonight."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Leonard said.
Penny stepped forward and gave the older woman a hug. "Who are you going to kiss at midnight?" she lamented.
"Iris," Gilda said. "Wouldn't want her to be left alone, now would we?" She handed Ada back to Penny as the two women separated. "But let's talk about happier things. When on Earth are the two of you going to get married?"
Leonard and Penny smiled. "Well," Leonard said, "we've actually decided on that."
"Hold on," Bernadette said, running over from the kitchen, a glass in her hand, "don't start on wedding stuff until I'm here."
"I thought we said no alcohol at this party," Penny said.
Bernadette took a sip. "I'm not going to be driving anywhere."
"Looks like when you had kids you passed the alcoholism torch on to her," Leonard joked. Penny rolled her eyes.
"Wedding news, please!" Bernadette said firmly.
"Right," Penny said. "We're getting married in twenty days. Well, a bit less than that. January nineteenth. It's going to be small, all we really need is someone in the group – or a subset – to marry us. My dad says he can make it out there, so he and my mother will be there. Leonard's parents are going to try too…" she sighed. "It's crazy, but we decided we're just ready to get it done. Isn't that right, Ada?" she asked the baby, who grinned and tried to stick her finger up Penny's nose.
"What sort of incredible event is happening in this apartment that would cause two people perfectly capable of walking beyond the threshold to loiter in such a way that we cannot enter?"
Penny and Leonard did one eighties, smiles coming over both their faces when they saw the Shamy. Penny threw her free arm around Sheldon. Leonard exchanged pleasantries with Amy.
"Come in, come in!" Bernadette said, pulling Leonard aside so Amy and Sheldon could enter. Penny backed farther into the apartment, and then took the folded up baby seat from off her back, setting it up expertly and putting Ada down next to the television.
"Hey," Amy said, smiling at Penny.
"Hey," Penny said. "Ames…about…"
"Want to talk?" Amy suggested, motioning toward the bedroom.
Penny nodded. "I think we should."
After shooing Howard, Raj, Savannah, and Iris out of the closet, Penny and Amy sat down on the foot of the bed. "I think I should start by saying…" Penny said.
Amy held up a hand. "It's not your fault. None of it was your fault."
"It wasn't your fault either," Penny protested. "And I was really insensitive, I mean, to go on and on about me being supposed to be dead, right when you were recovering from the news that you can't have a baby? I mean…"
"Penny, I know a bit about the human brain. I know how it works, I know what causes it to misfire, and I know what happens to it in all sorts of situations," Amy said. "And I know it's perfectly acceptable to have those feelings of guilt when you need medical assistance. And I also know that talking about them with friends is often the best therapy. It was only unfortunate – for you as well as myself – that I was struggling with depression at the same time. And what was good for you – what helped you – was the kind of thing I wasn't supposed to be privy to. Maybe you weren't sensitive enough, but you also weren't in a great state of mind. You were always very considerate prior to Ada's birth. But then with you getting depressed, it accentuated mine. And it made me resent you, and it made me blame you, and it convinced me, even at times, that you were rubbing your ability to have children in my face, even when I knew deep down that wasn't it. I was projecting my own grief and frustration on to you, and although it still…" her voice cracked, "breaks my heart that I cannot carry Sheldon's progeny, not being your friend hurts me deeply." She wiped her eyes under her glasses. "And I need you in my life much more than I need to isolate myself from your family so I can convince myself that it's your fault that I don't have kids."
"Oh Amy," Penny said, tears springing to her eyes. "I hate myself for not being able to be there for you!"
"It's not your fault!" Amy said, wiping her eyes again. "It was bad timing!"
"But you're my best friend," Penny choked out, "and you needed me and I was just making it worse!" Her voice broke, the tears came, and her words came out almost painfully. "I'm sorry, Amy. I'm so, so, so sorry." She pressed her lips together and blinked rapidly, a losing battle against the tears. "I love you so much."
Amy scooted closer. "I love you, too," she croaked, and the women hugged, letting their tears come, shaking against each other.
"Savvy, that's not the way you eat Pringles!" Missy said, sinking down on the couch next to the girl.
Savannah looked confused. "How can you eat Pringles wrong?" she asked, looking upset.
Missy took the can. "The way you're eating them," she said, "it's nice for your little mouth, because you have them so the curve will set right on your tongue. But if you flip them this way," she said, removing a chip and turning it over so the chip arced upward, "then you get the salty, flavorful part on your tongue." She put the chip in her mouth and closed her mouth around it with a purposefully loud crunch. "Much better."
Savannah took a chip and tried it the way Missy had showed her. Her eyes widened. "And Uncle Sheldon says you're dumber than a stump!"
"Savannah!" Penny turned from where she stood with the Shamy to scold her daughter.
"Uncle Sheldon said it!"
"I'm allowed to say it, she's my sister," Sheldon said. He looked at Missy and raised a hand in greeting. "Hi, Sis!"
"Hello," Missy said, looking at Savannah and rolling her eyes dramatically. The girl giggled.
"So," Penny said, turning back to her friends, "January nineteenth. You guys can be there?"
"We wouldn't miss it for the world," Amy said.
"Speak for yourself," Sheldon said. He looked back at Penny. "But me too."
"Almost midnight, almost midnight, almost midnight!" Bernadette said, running into the room holding an armful of glasses. "Take one, take one!" she said to Raj, nearest her.
He reached, but she jerked away from him. "Not with the stickers!" she said. "Those are apple juice for the kids."
When the drinks were passed out – "just a little, no one needs to get drunk tonight" – everyone crowded around the T.V. Five minutes to midnight.
At four minutes to midnight, the TV unexpectedly went blank, eliciting a very frustrated sound from Raj. The group turned to look at him. "What?" he said. "Watching the ball drop is tradition!"
"Okay," Iris said, sounding as if she had it all figured out. "Who is the smartest person here?"
"Oh, Iris," Sheldon said, "one day you'll learn."
"You can fix the T.V. in three minutes?" Missy said disbelievingly.
Sheldon stood still for a moment. "Oh, that's my cue." He handed Amy his drink and went to examine the T.V. Kneeling behind it, he fiddled with wires, the confused expression never leaving his face.
"Made it! Two minutes to spare!"
Everyone's attention turned from Sheldon and the T.V. "Mark!" Gilda said, running over to him. "I'm not going to kiss you because it's almost midnight, but…" she threw her arms around him. "Everything okay?"
"Everything's fine," he said. "Now why aren't you watching on T.V.?"
"It broke and Sheldon can't fix it," Penny said.
"Was a wire loose?" Mark said. "Sometimes the smallest movements will cause something to jiggle loose…" he looked at Ada, bouncing in her chair, "she could have hit something. Sheldon, what are you doing?" He let go of Gilda and went to kneel by the theoretical physicist. "Why are you unplugging all that? Just tighten them, it's very simple, look…" he reached for the wires.
Sheldon jerked them away. "It's not as simple as you think, Mark!"
"Oh, just let him try, it's a minute to midnight!" Amy said. "And if you're not over here for me to kiss, I'm going to liplock with my bestie here!"
"Well, I'm sure as Hell not kissing Sheldon, so Mark, I think you're up," Leonard said.
Sheldon slowly rose to his feet and returned to Amy, and in mere seconds, Mark had the television back up. "Just in the nick of time!" Missy said, applauding. Raj joined her.
The countdown from ten began. Savannah ran over to Ada. Gilda, one arm around Mark, picked up Iris.
Five…four…three…two…one…HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Leonard pulled Penny to him, and she slid her arms around his neck. Missy pushed Raj against the back of the couch. Howard and Bernadette shared a mature, married couple kiss. Shamy, always shy in public, gave each other a gentle peck. Gilda and Mark likely weren't full on making out only because Iris was there.
Savannah kissed Ada on the top of the head.
Props to anyone who caught the two references to the season two gag reel in here! (One a mere reference, the other a direct quote.)