17
Just before three Missy returned to Sheldon's office. She and Penny organized the baby's things for the trip back to North Los Robles. Luckily, most of what they brought that morning would remain in the office.
"Sheldon, are you okay with me leaving now?"
"Penny, you have already worked over two hours longer than we initially expected you would. Additionally, with this reception I am required to attend I suspect little additional work would be done today in any case. I will find my own way home, likely with Koothrapali or by bus."
"Don't wanna ride with a pouting Leonard, huh?"
"Not particularly."
"I guess I understand."
"So you will return home and prepare to distract Leonard from his complaining."
"That's what I do."
"Penny, if you require respite…"
"Sheldon, I suspect you won't see me again until breakfast. I'll text you if I think you'll need your noise-cancelling headphones."
"Penny, Penny, Penny."
"Bye, Shelly. Give me a call when you leave and let me know how you're gettin' home. I'll order your Thai food for ya. If Raj is driving you can pick it up. If you take the bus I'll have it delivered."
"That will be acceptable. Have a safe journey home."
Once Penny, Missy and the baby were on the road Missy decided to find a way to broach a sensitive subject.
"So, Penny, did you look at all those insurance options they offered?"
"Sure did. I haven't had any insurance in years and was lucky enough to not really need it much. Now I guess I don't have to be so worried about getting sick."
"But it's a lot more than that. I get to insure the baby and make sure that he gets checked up regular. And I get to do the same for myself. As soon as it's all set up I'm goin' in for a full check up. The baby too. You should think about that."
"Well, since it's mostly free, I guess I should."
"Penny, you probably saw that more than just basic doctor and hospital visits are covered, right."
"Yeah, I kind of glossed over that. I mean, besides a regular doctor and a gynecologist, what else would I need?"
"Well, one of the things I'm gonna consider is maybe seein' a therapist. With the baby's dad splittin' and me movin' and a new job and, to be honest, livin' with my brother, I'm gonna need someone to talk to about stuff."
"You have me."
"And I appreciate that. I really do. I hope we get to become good, good friends, Penny. But sometimes I think I need to speak to someone who's not in the middle of the same bunch of people I am. Someone who can maybe help with some perspective? You know what I mean?"
"Yeah. I guess I do. Sometimes I give one of my friends advice and five minutes later I'm getting complaints from a another one of my friends about what I said."
"Yeah, that can really suck. Did you ever think about seein' someone, Penny?"
"Me see a therapist? Why? My life is going pretty good right now."
"Really? You're about to spend your night screwin' Leonard silly not because you want to but because you need to distract him from his friend getting' somethin' he really wants. Does that sound pretty good?"
"When you put it that way, not so much."
"And Penny, I've only been here for a few days, but almost every time I've seen you you've had a drink in your hand. I'm thinkin' that maybe you aren't as happy as you'd like to think you are."
"Yeah, well things have been a little stressful."
"Sweetie, you're comin' off three months without my brother around. I love him to pieces but he can be a handful. I know it. You've had space and time with your fiancée, who you say you love, but you're still not exactly happy. Am I right?"
"Kinda."
"How do you expect to fix that? As you get closer to a wedding things are only gonna get more stressful. And now that you've got a new job and you and Leonard are together in that tiny apartment… Sweetie, you're gonna need some help. I know Leonard sees a shrink. Why shouldn't you?"
"Maybe I should ask Leonard to set me up with his guy."
"No. No. No. No. NO! You do not go to the same shrink. I know that much. You find your own. You check around, figure out who's available in our network and you go interview them. When you find someone you think you can work with you set it up. I'll help you because I'll be doin' the very same thing."
"I don't know."
"Sweetie, we've known each other for a while but we don't really know each other. Between the first time I met you and now somethin' changed."
"A lot changed, Missy. It's been years. There's Leonard. And other stuff."
"Yeah. I know. But another thing I know is that you are not happy. Oh you know how to act happy and you know how to make other people happy, especially Leonard, but you, you're just passing."
"I don't know."
"Sweetie, just join me on this little search. And let's make it our secret, okay?"
"You're probably right about that. If Leonard finds out I'm thinking about therapy he'll take over the whole thing and take it personally at the same time."
"You know him better than I do."
"So how do we start this?"
"I've got my own appointment with Human Resources tomorrow. I'll ask. And we'll take it from there. Okay?"
"Sure. But we still have to hit Victoria's Secret on the way home, okay?"
"I'm not sure I want to take the baby into a place like that."
"It's okay. I can run in pretty quick and find something Leonard will like for all of the five minutes I'll be wearing it."
"Penny!"
"Missy, we both know what's going to happen."
"Yeah, we do. I guess we'll need to stop at the liquor store too."
"You read my mind."