A/N The reader base for Big Bang stories is shrinking and as a result, we writers are seeing fewer and fewer readers. I spoke to a Shamy writer and their readership on their current story is like this one, down about a third from our last story. Just to give you an idea of how readership has fallen off, toward the end of writing Chew Toy (say around 2015), I was getting over 1500 different visitors to all my stories each week. Now, on a good week, I might get 350 different visitors, but I'm averaging closer to about 250.

I bring this up because I want to plug a new story by TBBT78. She has read and made suggestions that made every chapter you've read in this and my previous two stories, better, in my opinion. So please go take a look at "Forever Young" by her. As the number of readers keeps dropping, there will be fewer and fewer stories written. Her's, I feel, has an interesting premise and I enjoyed the first chapter. So, please go read, maybe even leave a review, even a short one. It really does mean a lot to the authors and it may keep them writing.

Finally, there is an almost M-rated thing at the very end of this chapter. Enjoy.

Chapter 4 Wednesday Dinner

29 July 4:45 PM

Leonard was getting ready to leave. For the first time, since the twins were born, he was going to the comic book store on Wednesday night, and the gang was coming over afterward. The group had decided to restart the weekly Wednesday night get-togethers. The first one would be at the Hofstadter's. Then there would be a three-week break, due to Leonard and Penny's family members coming in to visit. On August 26, they would start up again, meeting at the Hofstadter's until October, when they would start rotating between the three couples.

Louise was restocking the downstairs changing supplies as she always did in the afternoon. Penny was getting the plates and glasses ready. She would be having wine for the first time since the twins were born. She had been expressing milk and she now had enough to get through until tomorrow afternoon, long enough for the wine to get out of her system. The twins had been fed around three and Penny and Louise were planning to feed them around six, a half-hour before the guys would be coming back with the food.

Leonard came down the stairs, walked to the kitchen, kissed Penny, and said, "I'm going. I'm excited about seeing the new comics for the first time in quite a while."

Penny smiled, but said, "Oh, you've seen them, Sheldon brought them over. You just didn't see them in the comic book store. And, just don't get too carried away that you forget your wife will be sitting here, hungry."

Leonard chuckled, "No, I won't, I love you, bye."

Leonard kissed her again, turned, and left through the garage. Penny looked over at Louise and felt she had to talk to her. She was still feeling guilty after the talk she and Leonard had at the restaurant when she expressed concern about Louise watching their babies. She sighed and walked over to Louise, "Hey, Louise, I want to talk to you about something."

Louise looked Penny over and said, "Is it bad?"

"No, not at all," said Penny. "Well, not for you, it's embarrassing for me."

"What is it?"

"I just want to apologize to you," said Penny.

"For what?" asked Louise.

"The other night, when I asked if watching the twins would be a problem," said Penny.

"I told you they wouldn't," said Louise.

"I know you did," said Penny. "But, I shouldn't have questioned your abilities."

Louise looked puzzled, "You didn't."

"I did in my mind," said Penny. "It's just so hard. I didn't want kids, then I got pregnant and now that I have them I worry about taking the best care of them. You are excellent as a nanny, just great. But, for some reason, I think I, or Leonard, have to take care of them to do it right and we don't. In some ways, you do a better job than I do. But, as I said, it's hard."

Louise chuckled, "Yeah it is. I've seen it before, so don't worry about it. Parents get so uptight and get overprotective, wondering if others are doing a good job. So don't worry about it, like I said, I've seen and heard it before and won't get offended. Especially as you apologized."

Penny paused, thinking about something else, it wasn't really necessary, but Penny thought she would feel better if she got it off her chest, "Er…ummmm…there is one other thing."

"What?" asked Louise.

"Well, when we first interviewed you, I wasn't sure you were right for us," said Penny.

"Why not?" asked Louise.

"Well,…I'm not quite sure how to put this," said Penny. "I guess…"

Louise chuckled, "You thought I was too pretty and from what I heard on my other jobs, you probably felt bad about your appearance and thought Leonard would want me and not you."

Penny looked down, embarrassed, "Yes, I did, I'm sorry. You're right, I was so fat and so unattractive, I got jealous."

"Penny, I didn't say you were fat and unattractive," said Louise. "I was talking about my experience. Seems that almost all mothers feel that way towards the end. But, you have nothing to worry about. From talking to him, Leonard loves you and is crazy about the twins. He has no interest in me, other than when I'm taking care of the daughters he loves."

"You may not have said it, but I felt fat and ugly at the time," said Penny.

"How you felt and how others perceived you were two different things, Penny," said Louise. "Leonard thought you were glowing, hell I thought you were glowing. You looked happy about having twins."

"Well, I was," said Penny.

"And that came through," said Louise. "Besides, I have no interest in Leonard, he's not my type."

"While that's good to know, how do you know what your type is?" said Penny. "I thought he wasn't my type either, but look at us now."

"First off, I don't get involved with my clients, ever," said Louise. "Second, I know what my type is, and Leonard isn't it," A wolfish grin appeared on Louise's face, "You, on the other hand, would be my type."

"Wait…what?" said Penny, confusion on her face.

"I said you would be my type," said Louise. "But, as I said, I have a personal rule, never get involved with someone who is a client, especially if they are married. So, you don't have to worry."

"Are you saying, you're a lesbian?" said Penny.

"Yes, I am," said Louise. "And, that shouldn't be a problem, is it?"

Penny shook her head, still looking surprised, "No, no, it's not a problem at all. Being an actress, I know enough gays from my time in that industry. I was just surprised, you don't look like a…a…"

"Lesbian?" said Louise, smiling, "We don't all look butch. Penny, you and Leonard have been so kind, I felt safe telling you that, was I wrong?"

"I know you all don't look butch," said Penny looking embarrassed. "And, yes, it was safe to tell me. Neither Leonard nor I will care about it. Again, it was just a bit of a surprise."

"That's good to know," said Louise. "Please keep it between us for now. While I've talked to the others, I don't know them as well as I know you and Leonard. Until I get a read on them, I would prefer they didn't know."

"Of course, whatever you wish. Are you seeing anyone, right now?" asked Penny, who then hurriedly added, "That's inappropriate, you don't have to answer that."

"No, it's okay," said Louise grinning. "I don't count this as a work conversation. It's more girl talk."

"Well, if it starts to bother you, let me know," said Penny. "I love girl talk, but I don't want you to feel uncomfortable here. I want you to feel like a friend of our family, not just an employee." Penny thought for a second, "I guess if you were a friend, girl talk would be appropriate".

"I already do feel like more of a friend," said Louise. "As for your question, no, I'm not seeing anyone right now. I got out of a long-term relationship about six months ago and have been too busy to even socialize, much less date someone."

"Well, then, why don't you stay for dinner?" asked Penny. "The whole gang is coming over, you've talked with Amy and Bernadette, you could get to know them a bit better. And their husbands will be here. I think you've met them, but this would be a chance to get to know them better. Also, to be honest, I don't think any of them would care that you were gay."

Louise thought for a minute, "I don't have any plans for tonight, I can stick around for dinner and talk to them for a bit, but let's stick with not mentioning it."

"Okay, if that's what you want," said Penny. "I think it would be nice to have you become a member of our circle. I have the tables and chairs to set up, plates, cups, and utensils to finish, can you help?"

"Well, since the twins are asleep, yes, I can help," said Louise.

"Good, we'll have to wake them around six," said Penny. "So, we can make sure they are fed before the guys come back with the food. Although, Bernadette and Amy will probably be here and want to feed them. Come on."

Penny turned and led Louise to the kitchen.

29 July 6:45 PM

Amy arrived just after five and Bernadette, with Halley and Michael, were there just a few minutes later. As Penny predicted, Amy and Bernadette ended up feeding Annika and Jesika, while the four women talked. Sheldon and Leonard arrived back at 6:30 with the food and Howard, got there a few minutes later. Stuart and Denise came in about the same time. Penny expressed surprise at Stuart and Denise being there until Denise explained they had hired two more people for the store. The store had gotten even busier, and now that Denise was taking summer classes, Stuart needed help in the store. It also allowed them to take off every so often, like tonight, and spend time together.

All the women knew Louise from the bachelorette party and Howard had dropped by a couple of times when Louise was there. But, it was the first time Sheldon and Stuart met Louise. The only one missing from the gathering was Raj, who had a show to do at the planetarium tonight. The food was put out and Howard and Bernadette got their kids' food first, then everyone else got theirs. They were all sitting around the table and the island in the kitchen.

While they ate, Amy started in with her work, explaining that she and her two grad students were discussing and planning the experiments for the coming year. Sheldon tried to go into detail about his work with Super-Asymmetry, but Leonard stopped him and told him to give the abbreviated version, and he did. Bernadette went over several different experiments she was overseeing and the kind of drugs they may turn into. Howard talked about his summer class and how his research was going on the breakdown of the metal in space. He then mentioned that Raj had arranged for ending the planetarium shows on Wednesday, starting in September, so he would be coming to the dinners each week.

Denise had already talked about the store, so Penny prodded Louise to tell everyone about her. Louise spoke about being raised in Great Britain, about attending school and getting training as a nanny along with the extra classes she had taken for the medical side. Then she spoke of her experience with twins and everyone agreed Leonard and Penny were very lucky to land her. At 7:15 Leonard and Penny started cleaning up with Stuart and Denise putting the extra food away. After they broke into the normal groups, male and female, both groups spent the time talking about various things.

By 9 PM, everyone was getting ready to go home. Sheldon and Amy left first, as he had to be in bed by 9:30, then Denise and Stuart. Howard and Bernadette were the last to leave since they only needed to walk next door, with Louise leaving with them. Louise had helped them get their kids ready. Louise had had a great time and Penny extracted a promise from Louise since she enjoyed the company, to come to the weekly dinners when they resumed in August.

The twins had woken up, while everyone was leaving. Louise started to go to them, but Penny told her she wasn't working and Penny would get them. She said goodbye and had gone off into the downstairs bedroom to feed them. After everyone had left, Leonard went to the bedroom to see how Penny was doing. She was feeding both of them at the same time, something she was now able to do.

"Good, you're here," said Penny. "I'm almost done, you can help me change and burp them when they are finished."

Leonard said, "So what's up with the other women?"

"Nothing much, really," said Penny. "You heard their explanations, Bernadette is working on supervising the labs, Amy is supervising the experiments for her ideas on the brain. And, I just told them about taking care of the babies. Although…"

"Although, what?" said Leonard.

"I don't know, maybe I shouldn't say anything," said Penny.

Leonard chuckled, "You, not say anything? Come on, I know you better than that."

Penny looked thoughtful for a few seconds, then said, "Okay, I think Amy is going to want a baby real soon. Okay, these two are done, let's get them upstairs so we can change and burp them before we put them down."

Penny went upstairs with Annika while Leonard carried Jesika around while he locked the doors and turned off the lights. He walked up the stairs and was still a bit startled by Penny's statement about Amy. Getting to the twins' bedroom, he walked in and said, "Wouldn't she have to convince Sheldon he wants one before she even thinks about it?"

"Not really, I would say she would need to think about it, then convince Sheldon."

"Why would you say that?" said Leonard.

"I don't know," said Penny. "It's just a feeling I got, call it a hunch. But, this past weekend, the way she was looking at either me or Bernadette taking care of our kids, and how then and tonight she kept jumping in to hold or help, I got a feeling she wants a kid. She looked, I don't know, jealous of the two of us."

Leonard looked lost in thought for a minute, "I don't know, being jealous of other people who have kids is not a good reason to have them yourself."

"That's true, Leonard," said Penny. "But, it's not like it's coming from out in left field. We know she wants them and so does Sheldon. But, I'm not sure Sheldon is ready for the 'taking care of kids' part of the whole situation."

Leonard said, "I think the hardest part will be her convincing Sheldon that he will have to help with taking care of them. I can't see Amy doing all the work, she'll have to work on him. "

"I think she may already be working on that," said Penny. "Last year, Amy said she bought a book, about doing tests on babies, grabbing hands, watching them watch themselves in a mirror, that sort of thing. And, she has been bringing it up occasionally since then."

Leonard thought back, "I remember that."

"You remember what?" said Penny.

"When you and Bernadette were at the first conference," said Leonard. "Howard invited us over and Amy and Sheldon came by, saying they found a book and wanted to try it out on Halley and Michael. I thought it sounded familiar and realized it was something my mother had used on me. Surely, Amy doesn't want Sheldon using my mother's techniques on their kids."

"I don't think so," said Penny. "I think she's using it more to get him used to the idea of having kids and helping with them. Although I know his idea of having three sets of quintuplets is out, as is the idea of five sets of triplets."

Leonard laughed, "Yeah, we know what it's like with twins, can you see Sheldon with triplets or, God forbid, Quintuplets?"

Penny laughed, "Yeah, I don't see that happening either. But, just from the way she was looking at us, I think she may get pregnant within the next year. She also said she reminded Sheldon that he told her her eggs have an expiration date."

"What?"

"I don't know, I've never heard her say that," said Penny. "And, although it sounds like something Sheldon would say, I never heard him say that either." Penny paused and got a faraway look, "Although Bernie giggled at that comment, I may have to ask her." Penny shook her head, "But, just remember this, I think it's going to happen."

Leonard just shrugged. "Okay, Annika's down," said Penny. "Your turn to get Jesika ready. I'm going to get ready for bed."

While Leonard changed Jesika, Penny went to get ready for bed. She was already in the bedroom when Leonard came in. He went to the bathroom and completed his nightly ablutions. Afterward, he got into bed and Penny snuggled up next to him.

He had his arms around Penny when he felt her reach into his pajama bottoms and start stroking him. "Penny, what are you doing," he said. "You know you're not ready yet."

"I know that," said Penny, as she unbuttoned his top. "But, you obviously are, ust go along with me."

"But…"

"Shhhhhhhh," said Penny, putting her finger to his lips and starting to kiss down his chest. As she disappeared under the covers, Leonard gave in and just leaned back and started enjoying the situation.