43

Early Monday morning

Leonard picked up the phone in his lab and dialed Omaha, Nebraska.

"Queen Farm. This is Wyatt."

"Good morning, sir. It's Leonard. Leonard Hofstadter."

"Hello son. What's up? Is something wrong with Penny?"

"Um, no. Not really. We're just having a bit of a tiff. You know, like most couples."

"I understand. Penny's mother and I have had some real battles over the years. And Penny has her mother's temper."

"Yeah. She does get excited about stuff. I was hoping you could maybe help me out with something."

"What can I do for you, son?"

"Well, you know how Penny stopped working at The Cheesecake Factory a while back."

"About time if you ask me."

"Yeah. And then she was doing that movie that didn't work out."

"From what Penny told me you had something to do with that."

Not wanting to get into how he had contributed to Penny getting fired, Leonard quickly moved on. "Yeah, well since we decided to get married she hadn't been working at all and I was fine with that. We wanted to concentrate on having a family."

"Well, much as I'd love more grandchildren, I've learned to let Penny figure that out for herself."

"Yeah, well my old roommate just went and hired Penny as his assistant and a friend of his hired her to do some television work and, to be honest, it's messing with all our plans. I was hoping you could speak with Penny about it and help me convince her to quit."

"Son, is Penny enjoying what she's doing?"

"I guess, but it's still messing with our plans."

"Son, you should know by now that Penny is not exactly a making plans kind of girl. She does what she wants when she wants."

"But I really think Penny and I need to put our needs ahead of my ex-roommate's or his friend's."

"You should be saying that to Penny, not me."

"I was hoping you could back me up."

"I know my daughter pretty well and so should you, Leonard. Do you really think she'd respond well to me and you ganging up on her?"

"Probably not."

"Then you're on your own. Thanks for calling. Bye."

"Well that didn't go as well as expected," Leonard said to himself.

A short time later, as Penny and Alex approached their office suite, as expected they found Leonard waiting outside.

"Penny, we need to talk."

"This isn't the right time, Leonard. I have work."

"You've been avoiding me since Saturday. And why weren't you at the apartment last night?"

Trying to help Penny avoid a situation, Alex said, "Penny, I'm heading in. We have a lot to do today."

"Alex, I appreciate that Penny works for you but this is more important."

"Excuse me, Leonard, but my job is important to me and I do have a lot to do today. Alex, I'll be in in a couple of minutes."

"We need to talk Penny."

"Well, I have a lot on my plate today and I have therapy tonight. We can talk tomorrow night."

"And why did you start therapy without consulting me. I could have helped you with that. I'm sort of an expert."

"It was something I had to do for myself, Leonard. Like I said, we can talk about that and lots of other things tomorrow."

"I don't see why I have to wait. Our relationship should be your top priority."

"Our relationship is very important to me, Leonard. But I also have other things to pay attention to. Just like you do."

"It's not the same thing, Penny. This thing with Sheldon and Alex is just a job for you. I have a career."

"Yeah well I'm working on that too."

"This Wil Wheaton thing isn't that big a thing. It won't go anywhere."

"Thanks for the support, Leonard."

"That's not what I meant."

"Tomorrow night, Leonard. And, it would be nice if you showered before I see you again. You kind of stink."

"Yeah, well I had to sleep in my lab the past couple of nights because I couldn't find another place to stay and the radiation showers were shut down for repairs. And why the hell is Junior sleeping in our bed?"

"Junior is staying in our place because Sheldon asked if he could while I'm staying somewhere else for a while. And what the hell did you think you were doing last night sneaking into bed. You think I wouldn't hear about it?"

"I wanted to surprise you."

"Flowers are a surprise. Candy is a surprise. Theatre tickets are a surprise. There's another word for what you tried to do."

"I'm pretty sure Sheldon exaggerated like usual."

"I don't know. Did you sneak into the bedroom naked and get into bed with someone who told you to stay away?"

"You're making it sound like I'm a criminal. I just wanted to surprise you."

"Yeah, sneaking someone's my bed uninvited to have sex is something else, not a surprise."

"First, it's our bed. I have a right to be there. Junior doesn't."

"I'm glad Junior was there. And I'm glad he punched you in the nose. But it sure doesn't look like you learned anything from the experience."

"I want to know why you weren't there."

"Way to shift it back onto me, Leonard. I wasn't there because I need some space, okay. I have stuff to figure out."

"We're supposed to do that together."

"Yeah, well since we got engaged all that happened was you made decisions and I was expected to go along with them."

"That's how things work with us."

"Since when?"

"Since always."

"Yeah, that's gonna have to change. Tomorrow night at the apartment. We'll talk all of this through. I promise."

"Yeah, well we need to get everything back on track. I have a plan."

"You need to learn a new word, Leonard. The word is compromise."

"I know what compromise is. I lived with Sheldon for over ten years."

"I'll see you tomorrow, Leonard."

Penny turned and walked into the office suite, sat at her desk and just stared at the door.

"I'm betting that wasn't so easy was it."

"No, Alex, it wasn't. But it sure helped me with my decision."