Chapter 32 - The Home Stretch
Sunday the girls stayed together the whole day, none of them had to work and none of them wanted to do anything but hang out together. In the morning they were all up, reasonably early, Bernadette and Penny showering and quickly getting ready, then they all headed to Amy's apartment for her to do the same thing. So by noon they were at their favorite restaurant having brunch, talking, enjoying each other's company, and of course, discussing babies.
"Guys promise me you won't tell the guys before I tell Howard." Bernadette looked directly at Penny when she said those words.
Penny swallowed, she had been so lonely last night, she wanted to talk to Leonard so badly, she had actually forgot about Bernadette's baby while they were on the phone, otherwise she knew she would have told him. "Okay-doaky." She said so softly it was almost a whisper.
Bernadette looked at Penny, Penny was way too nervous. "Penny?"
"I called Leonard last night, but I didn't tell him anything. I sort of …..forgot." Penny confessed with embarrassment, her cheeks getting a little red.
Amy got a wicked little look on her face. "Ohhh, somebody was doing the nasty, over the phone, with her husband."
"No, not that, we just talked. But….." Penny suddenly got a far-off look in her eyes.
Amy giggled, "Bestie, I think your mind is in the gutter."
Penny smiled, giving her a little nod, "I'm allowed, I'm married now."
"LADIES FOCUS!" Amy and Penny jumped. "No none tells anyone, until I've told Howard, GOT IT!" Sometimes Bernadette sounded exactly like Mrs. Wolowitz, it was scary to the girls.
Amy and Penny nodded and replied at the same time, "Got It."
"When do you think you'll tell him?" Amy felt that was a safe subject at the moment.
Bernadette thought for a moment. "I guess I want to make sure, so after the doctor confirms it. Howard is going through a lot right now, so I don't want to give him this kind of information without being completely sure." She then thought for a couple more moments. "I guess I'll tell him when he comes home…Yeah, when he comes home, that way he won't have to worry about it while he is there."
Penny nodded, "Yeah, that is probably the best time to do it." Penny then giggled. "Wow that is going to be some homecoming for Howard." They all nodded to that.
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Sunday at the project facility, Howard, Leonard, Major Lee, and the technicians all sat around a table that had specifications and drawings of the new equipment spread out across it. This was their planning meeting for the work they were going to do the next two weeks. They had a deadline to test the suit, that Friday before the guys left, if they were going to make the demonstration to the Congressmen, so they needed to plan their efforts for the remaining time they had left before Friday. Howard and Leonard had an even bigger motivation, they wanted to go home that Saturday, after training was complete, so meeting the Friday test date, was very important to them, they didn't want anything to delay their departure.
"I can't get all these weapons systems up and running by Friday." Leonard hated to say that, but he needed to get that fact up front in the meeting.
"Also, I can't have Leonard working on the weapons systems all the time, we are going to need him in the suit, to test some of these new computers after we install them. You've seen how long it takes for a system test, that is going to take a lot of Leonard's time." Howard added.
Leonard sighed, spending hours in the suit, just going through systems checks, was the very definition of boredom for him. "Yeah, I forgot about that."
Howard chuckled. "And you thought making the suit in a size for us, was a great idea."
"Hey, I didn't her you complain, as I remember you said, 'Leonard that's a great idea.', if I remembered correctly." Leonard countered
Howard, looked at Leonard then at Lee and the technicians, all of them with little smiles on their faces, "Yeah, whatever."
Lee liked Howard, kidding with him was great, however he didn't want to embarrass him, he respected the engineer too much, so he immediately got everyone on track. "Well if we can't get everything working, can we get the laser up?"
Leonard gave Howard a quick pat on the back, "Yeah, I think so, what do you think bud?"
Howard nodded, "Yeah, we can put all the weapon systems in, but the only thing that will work will be the laser." then as an afterthought, "Major Lee, we are still going to be working pretty hard and quickly, I'm going to have some trouble keeping up with all the installations and modifications."
Lee smiled, "That is why you have us."
Howard was going to tell Lee that was the problem, but thought better, "Yeah, you're probably right." Howard could not get the feeling, out of his mind, that they were going about this all wrong, but he couldn't find anything concrete, to really support that thought, so he just looked at everyone, nodded and smiled.
Howard, spent the rest of the day working on putting together drawings for the wiring and mounting of the equipment, on his computer, using a computerized drawing package provided by the Army. The drawings could then be transferred to the technician's laptops so that they could assemble components for the installations. Leonard went back to work on the laser, he would need to test fire it before it went into suit, so that the power and timing could be balanced. The Army had set up a special test chamber in the end of the building they were working in, so Leonard would begin setting up the laser for the test there that week.
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Monday through Friday the next week went quickly, Penny worked long ours everyday, to keep herself busy and not think too much about Leonard, at least not too much or she would get too depressed. Bernadette had actually cut back on her overtime, the thought of stressing herself and hurting the baby now foremost in her mind. The baby made a change in her, she still missed Howard incredibly, but now her thoughts were split between her husband and their child. They still talked to their husbands every day, and every morning they would both check off a day on the calendar, Bernadette had set up for them, making them both smile as the days slowly became fewer and fewer, for their men to come home.
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Friday found Bernadette leaning back on her chair at her desk, she had just hung up the phone, and she was still in a little bit of euphoria over the phone call. It was actually a short simple phone call, but it made everything seem so real to her and made her incredibly happy. She had to tell someone before she exploded, Penny went with her to the doctors office, two days before, and Bernadette knew Penny would go nuts over the news, so it had to be her. The thought of the Nebraskan screaming over the phone with happiness made Bernadette feel warm inside and that was just what she needed, it was a real big deal and she wanted to scream about it herself.
Bernadette's only problem was she just couldn't call Penny, because Penny was at work, so she sent Penny a text asking her to call her, then as an afterthought, she asked her to call soon. Bernadette then put down her phone and picked up a report, on the testing the lab did last week, to read, however try as she could, every time she read a page she didn't remember what she read. It actually surprised and pleased her when her cell phone rang five minutes later, and she smiled when she saw it was Penny.
"Bernadette, did you get the results!" Penny's breathless voice made Bernadette smile.
"Yes!" Bernadette almost couldn't say any more she was now so excited from her excited friend. "I'm pregnant for real." Bernadette almost had to pull the phone away from her ear, as Penny squealed.
"Oh My God, Bernadette, I knew those tests were right. Sweetie, I'm so happy for you. How are you feeling now that you know for sure."
Bernadette smiled, "Good…..I feel really Good. I'm excited Penny, I can't believe there is a little part of me and Howard growing in my belly."
Penny swallowed, as the feeling came over her again, about being pregnant with Leonard's baby, but she pushed it aside, this was Bernadette's moment and she was very happy for her friend. "This calls for a celebration Sweetie. One of the girls owes me some hours so, I'm getting off tonight and we are going to go out and have a girls night."
"Penny, I can't drink anymore."
"No…No, No. We'll go out and eat dinner and just hang out. Do you want to tell Amy or me."
"I want to tell her." Bernadette was so happy and she just wanted to hear Amy squeal about it too.
"Okay, Sweetie, don't work late, see you later." Penny hung up and leaned against the wall of the break room. She was so happy for Bernadette, she loved that Bernadette was so happy and she knew Howard would be happy too. Now that Bernadette was off the phone, the thought about the baby came back to her and the feeling of emptiness, which made her touch her tummy, then shake her head. She still had dreams, she still wanted to be an actress, she really didn't have time for babies, especially not now and she knew Leonard would tell her the same thing. She knew he wouldn't want her to give up her dreams to be the mother of his child, at least not yet, and he told her that pretty much on the phone. He said they were a team now, and he was going to help his wife have the best shot at what she wanted to do, to be an actress. She knew what he meant, he wanted her to quit being a waitress and pursue acting full time, he would take care of everything else. She had wanted to argue with him, but after telling her it was a team effort and her success benefited them both, she gave in, he was really amazing and she loved him for it.
Bernadette hung up the phone, wondering if she would ever be able to hear in that ear the same again after Penny and now Amy. She didn't care though, her girlfriends and their response to her new pregnancy, had made her day and she couldn't get the silly grin off her face. The thought of seeing them tonight and spending the evening having a girls night, excited her, it was just what she needed and she couldn't wait for that evening. She grabbed the report, she had tried to read before and now attacked it with a vengeance, she wanted to make sure she was done and left work at 4 PM sharp that day.
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Penny, Bernadette and Amy got up reasonably early on Saturday, since none of them had alcohol the night before, so they quickly got ready and headed out to brunch. Friday night had been fun for them, they went out to dinner, then to a romantic movie, finally staying up late just talking. However today they had big plans, Penny had talked to Leonard the night before and he agreed that she could empty his room so Amy could move in, he was even excited, like Penny, that Sheldon had agreed to this new living arrangement. So the girls were anxious to get that all done today, partly because Amy wanted to move in as soon as possible and partly so Sheldon couldn't change his mind. It probably wouldn't really take them that long, since Penny had already removed all Leonard's clothes and put them in their apartment.
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Saturday the guys were up early working in the lab, the last week had been routine for them, exercise and classes the whole week in training. It had actually been sort of repetitive for them, except for the evenings when they were working on the project. Leonard was ready this morning to run his first laser test, the laser system was actually very simple, when everything was put together properly, that was the problem, getting everything together properly. The system Leonard had put in the original Tin Man, he knew well, so putting together the system in the suit was easy, this new equipment was all new to him so it needed testing.
The laser system consisted of a laser, discharge capacitor, current regulator and chemical reaction packs. The two binary chemicals would be mixed, creating a chemical reaction, that would provide the enormous amount of free electrons, that made up the current to charge the capacitor. The initial capacitor charge happened in about 3 seconds, 50-60 percent of the power being deposited and allowing a quick fire of the laser, like Leonard used on the criminal in the Cheesecake Factory. Ten seconds allowed about 90 percent of the power to be deposited into the capacitor which would be a full charge and allow the most laser energy to be provided on target. Upon firing, the discharge capacitor provided all its stored energy to the laser and the current regulator added the remaining energy from the chemical reaction packs, still being provided by the chemical reaction, to supplement the discharge capacitor and to produce the laser beam. Then after laser discharged the current regulator rerouted the remaining, small amount of energy, from the chemical reaction packs, back to the capacitor until the packs stabilized. For all this to happened correctly, the current flows had to match the cabling and the timing needed to be correct, because a full capacitor, after ten seconds, could not take more than a couple seconds of additional charge before it blew up.
There were plenty of safety systems Leonard could build that would make the laser system safer, and he had them in his lab, but they were too large for the suit and so could not be installed, otherwise the weight they added would make the suit loose mobility. Therefore, Leonard worked at balancing the laser to keep it safe and small enough to put in the suit, plus added an electrical radiator for emergency discharge. The electrical radiator being a series of thick metal loops that produced heat when high currents were forced through them, but again, to save weight, their electrical radiator was good for only one use, the high heat created in it destroying the properties of the metal. So with all these restrictions and equipment Leonard worked all day Saturday testing the laser, until he got the right mix of power and components to support all that power.
Howard ran tests all day Saturday, preparing for suit testing on Sunday, with Leonard inside the suit. Howard, with all his help, had installed all the new systems during the week, except the laser, into the suit, so today involved the basic systems tests. It was terribly tedious work, but it had to be done, so Howard sat at his computer and started the tests, while the technicians worked on verification of the suits operation while he pulsed each suit system.
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It was almost 8 PM and the girls had Leonard's old room now looking like Amy's new room, including the pretty curtains and matching bedspread. They were all laying on their backs on Amy's bed giggling in happiness, while Sheldon was still out with Raj at the comic book store.
"So how does it feel Amy to know you will be sleeping under the same roof with Sheldon, tonight?" Bernadette had turned her head to ask her friend.
"Wow, to tell you the truth I haven't still got over the fact that he let me move in."
Penny giggled, looking over at her friend, "Amy how are you going to keep your hands off of him?"
Amy giggled and looked at her friend, "One step at a time bestie, one step at a time." All three of them laughed.
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Sunday, Penny worked all day, but she really didn't feel too bad, this time next weekend she knew she would be with her husband, there was less than a week to go and she was slowly getting excited. Leonard was going to take her on a little honeymoon when he got back, a week cruise in the Caribbean, but not before they got to spend a few days alone together, in bed. She once told Leonard about spending weekends with guys, having 36 hours of meaningless sex, well now she planned on have twice that amount of meaningful sex with her husband when he got back, She would make sure their refrigerator was stocked up and she would have all the takeout delivery numbers, before the day he came back, because she planned on not letting him out of her sight or grasp for days.
Bernadette spent Sunday with her parents and family, which was good and bad, because she liked being around her family that day, but it was killing her that she couldn't tell them about the baby. She would not let anyone else know before she told Howard, and she had made sure her two best friends kept her secret forever, not wanting Howard to know she didn't tell him first. She missed Howard so much, but knowing his baby was in her, made it so she couldn't help but smile about everything now, she held their family which gave her warm feeling inside. However, Bernadette was also planning on settling her husband down now, he had a child coming, so she was going to make sure he fully understood his responsibility to them, there was going to be no more danger for Howard Joel Wolowitz, if she had anything to do about it.
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Sunday seemed like one of the longest days of Leonard's life, he spent 6 hours in the suit and towards the end of the testing he had thoughts of breaking out of the building and making a run for it. It had taken till noon to get the suit ready, before he was helped into it, then for the next 6 straight hours he made every movement the suit could accomplish, at least ten times, before he was mercifully helped out of Tin Man. Right now he seriously hated the thing and was wondering if he could do Howard's job, so Howard could now do the testing of the suit, instead of him. However, once separated from the suit, he slowly came back to normal sanity when he got to go back to the test chamber and disassemble the finalized laser system, to move it to the suit room, so that they could being its installation on Monday.
Howard was tired too, as he accomplished the system tests over and over, until he felt a little bit confident everything was working. He was so happy the suit testing was over, him and Leonard had been increasingly sarcastic with each other, at the end of it all, due to both of them being tired and mind numb from all the suit system testing. He just had another hour of built-it system tests to accomplish, before he had to call it a night, but at least those tests were automated so he just had to sit back and occasionally look at he computer screen while they ran. He slowly zoned out while he waited for the tests to finish, thinking about his wife and how he would just like to sitting on the couch with her mindlessly watching TV right now. It was amazing how you'd miss the little things with the person you loved, when they were not available to you, he thought.
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Monday morning, for the guys was a little exciting, it would be their last Monday morning in training and it marked the first of their last four days of training, Friday being their graduation day and the awarding of their commissions. This week was also going to be more interesting for them, they were going to run the obstacle course this week and spend an afternoon on the firing range, firing pistols. Along with their classes and graduation rehearsal, their week was going to go by quickly, especially since they would be working on Tin Man every night to get it ready for testing Friday afternoon.
The two big things that the guys would remember for a long time were the obstacle course and the firing range. Howard had actually been on an obstacle course, when he went through astronaut training, so he thought he would wouldn't ruin the surprise for Leonard by telling him anything about it. His secrecy was rewarded when Leonard tried to swing over the first water obstacle, on a rope, and promptly fell in the water, having to go through the rest of the course weighing 20 pounds heavier due to his soaked uniform. In addition, the dirt from the course ended up turning to mud as it coated Leonard's soaking wet uniform and that only gave Howard more ammunition to use on his suffering friend. Howard had to control himself from laughing when his soaked muddy friend finally met him at the finish line with a couple other soaked muddy medical officer trainees.
Leonard got his revenge at the firing range, at least Leonard had handled a real gun, he suffered a burn on his little toe from shooting himself in the shoe, to prove it. Leonard devoted his utmost attention to the gun instruction, they got in the morning, asking questions to make sure he understood everything completely, he was determined to learn how to handle a pistol properly for the next time he took Penny out shooting. By the time they got to the actual shooting, Leonard knew where not to point the gun, how to load and clear jams, plus how to actually aim and hit the target. He got his revenge on Howard when he was able to put most of his shots on target, when at the same time the instructor was asking Howard which target he actually shot at, because his had no holes in his.
The evenings, of course where spent with Tin Man, installing Leonard's laser and finishing up all the remaining tasks for getting the suit ready for test. The technicians helped Leonard get the laser system installed while Major Lee helped Howard get the rest of the suit ready. Howard could see they would be ready for the test, which would make the Army happy because they were meeting their schedule and would make Howard and Leonard happy because they would be able to go home to their wives on Saturday, it would be a win-win for everyone. However, Howard still didn't like the idea that he seemed rushed by the Army and that he had not been personally involved in all the changes in the suit. Howard ended up convincing himself he was just over thinking things and everything would go fine, so he just concentrated on his work to make the suit test Friday a success and then go home to his wife.
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The girls were excited on Monday, this was the last week without their husbands and they had a lot to do to get ready for them. Both girls were working Monday through Thursday, then both were taking two weeks off starting Friday, to be with their men. Penny especially had a lot to think about, since Leonard had suggested she go after her dream full time, when he got back, she would have to decide if she was even going back to work at the Cheesecake Factory when her two weeks were up. The idea that it was even an option for her now, was amazing to her, being Leonard's life partner was even more incredible than she ever imagined.
They worked a lot those four days, but they also found time to get things set up in both their apartments for their husbands arrival. Both girls expected to spend a long time in bed with their men, when they came home and thought they probably wouldn't leave their apartments for at least two days, so they stocked their apartments with food for all that time. Penny rearranged their apartment several times, moving Leonard's stuff around, trying to make it look like something he would like seeing when he came home. She even displayed his comic books around in the living room and make a place for them in the bedroom too, however she was sure he wouldn't be interest in them at least for a little while after he came home, if she had anything to do about it. She was getting more excited and nervous as the week went on, her and Leonard had not consummated their marriage yet and even after the very active sex life she had before Leonard, she felt shy and virginal when thinking about them making love the first time as a married couple.
Bernadette, was nervous too, she was setting up their apartment for Howard's arrival too, but she had something important to tell him and how to do that was driving her crazy. She knew he wanted children, but this was a surprise and she didn't know if he would actually be happy or upset, no not upset, just less happy. She had to mentally stop herself from worrying, she knew Howard loved her and she knew he would love her and the baby, all this over thinking was just making her nervous for no reason. She just had to find the right way to tell him, she wanted him to be just as excited as her, because she knew as soon as she told him she was going to cry, really cry a lot, she wanted to make sure he understood why.
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When Friday morning rolled around, the guys got up for their morning graduation and release from training, they would really be commissioned officers, in the Army, before the day was done. Their graduation and commissioning was to happen in the morning, the Army did that so the newly minted officers could catch planes that afternoon to go home on leave, that was given to them before they went to their first assignment. For reserve officers, like Howard and Leonard were suppose to be, the morning event was just to let them get home to loved ones that day. However, Howard and Leonard's day was going to continue, after their graduation and commissioning event, to their test of Tin Man, in the afternoon, so they wouldn't get home till Saturday, but even that couldn't diminish their happiness in knowing that soon they would be with the women they love. Little did they know that fate was not done with them.