A/N I'm sitting here, it's Christmas Night and I'm struggling with the middle section of this chapter. Since I can't seem to get the story written, why not write the author's note?

I know I've been grumbling about not having enough readers to continue writing long pieces and I've realized I may sound like I'm griping about it. However, that's not it, I'm just trying to explain why I won't be writing any more long pieces.

I want everyone who is still reading this that this does not apply to you. I can't express my gratitude enough to those who are still here reading. I do appreciate those that are still reading, As I've said, this story will have its natural length and ending, so you don't have to worry about this one. It's after this story ends that you will not see any long-form writing from me here, just a short here and there.

ETA: Well, it's New Year's Eve and we just had our traditional snacks as we watched the ball drop in NYC (reminding me of the comment about waiting for the ball to drop by Penny, regarding Leonard). I've got a glass that is now empty of Pink Champagne, while I do the editing of this chapter, as It will go up tomorrow night. As you might have guessed, I managed to finish the chapter.

So, for this chapter, enjoy.

Chapter 12. Back to School.

12 August 3:30 PM

Leonard looked at his father, then said, "What do you think is so damned funny dad?"

"Leonard, have you read that paper?" asked Alfred. "From your comments, I would say you haven't."

"What do you mean?"

"Her paper, wasn't about having sex only after getting married and for having kids," said Alfred. "We had a very active sex life before her first pregnancy. She was very aggressive in indicating she wanted sex."

"Then why does she say you only had sex on your wedding night and to have kids," asked Leonard.

"Because she's embarrassed about our lack of sex in our marriage after your sister was born," said Alfred. "The amount got smaller and smaller very quickly and it just seemed like the only time we had sex was to have you and your brother. I was even willing to try some things that she suggested, but it wasn't worth the effort just to hear her say no, so I stopped asking."

"What things?"

"Well, your mother suggested some light B and D for a while there," said Alfred. "Until you walked in on us one night when she had a ping-pong paddle."

Leonard shuddered, remembering how he felt after his mother had told him.

Alfred continued, "After that, there wasn't any attempt on my part, I thought we had scarred you. She didn't want to have sex, with me anyways, unless it was um…er…let's just say, exotic, so we just stayed together but quit having sex. I finally found someone I wanted to have sex with again, mentioned it to Beverly and she didn't say anything against it. I suspect she found someone more compatible, so I started going out with the other woman. Evidently, someone saw us and went to your mother."

"Is that why she said you cheated?" said Leonard.

"Oh, I suppose technically I did," said Alfred. "But, since your mother knew about it and hadn't complained before that, I didn't consider it cheating, more like screwing someone else, with her permission. I guess the only thing that changed was that someone saw me with the other woman. As a result, she decided the only way to save face was by claiming I cheated and filing for divorce. I maintain that because she knew about it as it went along, it wasn't cheating. However, to move the whole process along, I just admitted to cheating."

"She brought up the ping pong paddle incident to me before," said Leonard. "She said she went along with it because you liked it."

"I went along with it because it was the only way I could get sex," said Alfred. "After a while, I got the feeling she was more interested in studying how to raise you kids, using some of her hypotheses, rather than having sex, because she would stay up late researching and writing about it until I was asleep."

Leonard resignedly shook his head, "That's enough, I don't need to hear anymore."

Penny giggled and Leonard looked at her angrily.

"I'm sorry, Leonard," said Alfred. "I truly am, but there wasn't a lot I could do about it."

"It's okay, dad," said Leonard. "I've worked through things. I'm more interested in our relationship going forward, than in the past. Although there are times when questions pop up in my mind."

Alfred said, "That's fine, Leonard, but if you have any questions, I'll be more than happy to answer any questions you have, to the best of my ability."

"Thank you, dad."

"Now, if you don't mind, I think I'll take a nap," said Alfred.

"Okay, dad," said Leonard. "We'll get you up in time for dinner, I'm making hamburgers on the grill."

"Thank you, Leonard," said Alfred, who then turned and walked up the stairs.

"Louise, we're going to take a quick nap, too," said Penny. "You can handle everything, right?"

"Sure, Penny, you two have a good nap," said Louise, winking at Penny when Leonard couldn't see.

Penny grabbed Leonard by the hand and pulled him upstairs. After getting into their room and closing the door, Penny pulled him to the bed and said, "What was that mad look you gave me down there?"

They got into the bed and sat on their sides, then Leonard said, "I didn't appreciate you laughing at how uncomfortable I was, talking about my parents' sex lives."

"Why?" asked Penny. "It's not like you didn't know they had a sex life, right?"

"I thought they didn't have a sex life," said Leonard. "That's why I was uncomfortable talking to my dad about it."

"That's silly, Leonard," said Penny. "You know they had sex, you're here."

"I know, but until today, I thought they only had sex after they got married and have kids. But, even if they did have sex, I don't want to hear about the specifics," said Leonard. "How about if we were talking about your parents having sex, how would you feel?"

Penny chuckled, "It wouldn't bother me, I know a lot about their sex lives.

Leonard looked startled, "How?"

"I heard it all the time when I was growing up," said Penny. "All the bedrooms were upstairs and our walls were not exactly soundproof. Me, my brother, and sister would laugh about it."

"How did you hear them?" asked Leonard.

"Leonard, why do you think I'm so loud during sex?" said Penny. "I get it from my mom, she becomes quite vocal during sex, like me. They tried to stay quiet, I got the impression my dad would cover my mom's mouth or stuff something in it to keep her quiet, but she was just very vocal and we could still hear it."

"Great, now I have that image in my head," said Leonard.

"Well, maybe I can clear it out," said Penny, who then kissed him, deeply.

They kissed for a while until Penny put her hand down Leonard's pants, causing him to brake the kiss and say, "Penny, you can't yet and I don't want to risk your recovery or you getting loud."

"Well, then," said Penny, pulling him out of his underwear, "let's see if I can make you yell from that thing you and your dad like." Her head slid down his chest, into his lap.

About 15 minutes later, Louise heard a muffled, "Oh, shit," from Leonard. She looked up the stairs and smiled.

13 August 2:30 PM

Leonard was watching his father play with Annika and Jesika. Alfred had been very attentive to the twins the whole time he'd been there. They had given Louise the day off, at Alfred's suggestion. He was going to be there and said he would be more than happy to help with them. So, Leonard and Penny gave Louise two days off, with pay, giving her a four-day weekend, which she said would be great, said she could plan a trip to San Francisco, to see some of her family.

These thoughts flashed through Leonard's head as he watched his dad play with the twins. True to his word, Alfred had spent a lot of time with the twins in addition to changing them. And, suddenly, a question came to his mind.

"Hey, dad, I have one of those questions," he started. "You seem to enjoy playing with the twins, even though they can't do very much. I don't remember you playing with me or my siblings very much. I mean you were always busy with teaching or grading or something else to do with school. What's up with that?"

Alfred looked at Leonard and sighed, "It's…it's…er, different, that's all."

"You mean different like you wanted to spend more time with the Etruscan kid, than any of yours?"

Alfred looked at Leonard. He hadn't sounded accusatory, it sounded more like he just wanted to know. Alfred looked sadly at Leonard and said, "Leonard, it had nothing to do with the Etruscan boy you hated so much."

Leonard was surprised, "You knew."

"How could I not?" said Alfred. "You were mumbling about how much you hated him. I would guess you didn't mean for me to hear, but I did."

Leonard still looked surprised and a bit sheepish, "Yeah, you weren't supposed to hear that. I did hate that kid, always taking you away from me. First to go dig him up, then to pour over him in the lab. He was always taking you away."

"That wasn't it," said Alfred. "I was a coward. I couldn't confront your mother, so I used the Etruscan boy as a way to get out of the house, away from the cutting remarks of your mother. That it hurt you and probably your brother and sister didn't occur to me until much later, when I heard you mumbling. By then, it was much too late. I'm sorry Leonard, please forgive me."

"It's all right dad, don't worry about it," said Leonard. "I forgave you around the same time I forgave mom. I just wanted to move on and the only way I could do that was to forgive each of you. That's how I got reconciliation with mom."

"Well, I'm glad you talked to both of us," said Alfred. "I'm glad you were able to move on."

"So am I dad, so am I," said Learned with a grin.

14 August 9:30 AM

"Bye, Penny, we'll see you in a couple of hours," said Leonard as he opened the front door.

"Hold on, Leonard," said Penny running up to him. "Can you stop and pick up the things I have on the list? Von's has the salads I want on sale and I need a few more of them."

"Okay, I'll stop on the way home," said Leonard. He walked over to the stairs and yelled, "Come on dad, I'm ready."

"I'll be right down," said Alfred.

"I hope he has a good time," said Penny. "He's not a physicist. He said he doesn't understand what you do."

"Oh, I know anthropology isn't a real good fit with physics," said Leonard. "But, he can follow along well enough, he's always been interested in my research. Besides, I have a surprise for him, one of the guys in the social sciences is teaching a semester class on Topics in Anthropology. Two of the lectures will be on the Etruscans and he wants to talk to my dad. So, after I show him around my lab and office, I'll have the guy come and get my dad. Which will be a perfect time for Dr. Gablehauser to talk to me about something today."

"What?" said Penny.

"Yeah, he sent me an email asking if I could stop in today, when I was there, and talk to him," said Leonard.

"About what?" asked Penny.

"I don't know," said Leonard. "When I told Keith and Tom I'd be in today, they must have talked to Dr. Gablehauser, because he dropped me an email last night, asking if I could come over and talk to him. I guess I'll find out when I get there."

Just then, Alfred came down the steps and said, "Okay, I'm ready to go."

Leonard turned to Penny and said, "You sure you'll be fine by yourself?"

"I'm sure, you don't think I can handle it," said Penny in mock anger. Leonard chuckled, "Oh, I think you can handle it. But, it will be the first time you will be by yourself. Louise has been here to help out when either of us has been gone. This is your first time by yourself and I know I'd be worried if you were going to be gone and I'd be by myself."

Penny placed her hand on his chest, "I'll be fine. You have a good time with your dad. And, say hi to Tom and Keith for me." She leaned in and kissed him.

"I will," said Leonard after breaking the kiss, he turned and when into the garage, followed by his father. They got into Leonard's car and were soon on the way to Caltech.

14 August 10:30 AM

Leonard and Alfred walked into Leonard's office and Alfred simply said, "Wow."

"Wow, what, dad?" said Leonard.

"You have all this room now," said Alfred. "The last time I was here you had a ten by ten room with a bunch of e equipment and your office was a desk off to one side. You have much more room here," as he waved his arm around the room. "All these books, a desk a table, you've moved up."

Leonard chuckled, "Well, that happens when you finally get tenure and become the head of a major experiment. Come on, put your stuff down and I'll take you to the lab."

They put their things down and Leonard led Alfred to the photon lab. As they walked in, Keith and Tom waved at Leonard who waved back. He then spent some time showing his father the various modules that made up the photon entanglement experiment. Leonard was also explaining what each of the modules did and his ideas to get more photons to entangle.

After the tour was finished, Leonard introduced his father to Tom and Keith, and then explained his father's work in Anthropology. Tom took Latin in high school and college and some Ancient History, so he engaged Alfred in talk of the Etruscans. Meanwhile, Keith gave Leonard an update about the work on the modifications over the summer and where he thought the experiment would be, once school started. Leonard thanked the both of them and walked over to one of the lab phones and made two phone calls, the second call, he walked over to the group of Tom, Keith, and Alfred and told his father they were ready to go.

They left the lab and went back to Leonard's office. In about five minutes, there was a knock on his door. The person entered and Leonard introduced his father to Dr. Ron Wittengen, from the Social Sciences group. Dr. Wittengen explained about the class he would be teaching in the fall and how a couple of lectures would be about the Etruscans and how he wanted to talk to Alfred and pick his brain a bit.

Alfred turned to Leonard with a smile and asked, "Do we have enough time?"

"Yes, dad, we do," said Leonard. "I have to talk to my boss, and this will give you something to do while I do that." Leonard then turned to Dr. Wittengen and said, "Ron, when you are finished, have him give me a call, so I can tell you where I'll be, so you can bring him back."

Dr. Wittengen nodded and escorted Leonard's father out of the office. After they left, Leonard gathered some papers from the experiment, made some notations from things Keith had told him and put the papers in a folder. He figured Dr. Gablehauser wanted to talk about the experiment and where they were at and Leonard's plans after he returned to work in a couple of weeks. He left his office, when up to the top floor, and found Dr. Gablehauser's secretary, announcing he was ready to see Dr. Gablehauser. She made a call and a few seconds later she told Leonard he could go in.

Leonard got up, walked to the door, and softly knocked, hearing a, "Come in," he entered and moved to the table Eric had indicated. Leonard sat down and waited, noting Eric was moving slower and stiffer than usual. He finally sat down and said, "How are you doing Leonard?"

Leonard looked at him and said, "I'm doing fine, except for being a bit tired, from the twins. How are you doing Eric?"

"That's why I want to talk to you," said Eric. "I'm not doing well and I will be having a couple of procedures done in the coming months. How would you feel about taking over the department for those months, while I'm out?"