The Wolowitz conclusion

Chapter nine

It was 9pm when Bernadette knocked on Leonard and Penny's door, she knew it was late, but she needed to see someone. Since Sheldon's death, Amy, Stephen, Harmony and Melody had been living in their spare room, so Bernadette knew there would be someone there to talk to. It was Saturday night so the kids didn't need to be up for school in the morning. Leonard answered the door in his boxers and robe, not expecting visitors this late in the evening.

"can we come in?" Bernadette smiled best she could in the circumstances "I know its late but Howard just left, and, I couldn't stay there"

"sure" Leonard smiled opening the door to let the three of them in "we're just watching Spider Man"

"oh, epic" Michael punched the air "I love Spider Man"

"Halley" Penny smiled "Megan's upstairs reading if you want to join her"

"thank you auntie Penny" Halley tried a sombre smile "can I have a hug?"

"of course, sweetie" Penny tried to pull herself up, wincing in pain "you're going to have to come to me though"

"sorry" Halley ran towards Penny and squeezed her tight, tighter than anyone had ever held her before "I can always talk to you, can't I?"

"of course" Penny smiled at her "whenever you want about whatever you want"

With one last big hug, Halley ran upstairs to Megan. Leaving Bernadette, Amy, Penny and Leonard almost in tears, they knew that Halley put on a face, the same thing had happened a couple of years ago when Halley had bullied Megan as a reaction to being bullied herself.

"she's going to take this hard" Penny sighed slinking back down onto the couch wincing in pain as her stitches pulled a bit "I'm so sorry"

"right" Bernadette mustered the final part of her mask in her voice "that's enough, I don't want any more apologies, this is no one's fault, but Howard's, Penny, you did what you needed to do, you did what was best for me, and I'll always be grateful for that"

"Bernie" Penny begged in return "if I'm going to stop apologising for telling you, you need to stop apologising for my hospital visit"

"agreed" Bernadette hugged Penny, not quite as hard as Halley had, but not far off "can we stay here tonight?"

"of course" Penny smiled "we can set your kids up with ours"

Once the girls had set Halley and Michael up with Megan, Elliot, Alice and Stephen, Penny realised how full their house was becoming. The Hofstadter residence wasn't small. Leonard's dad had given them the money for the deposit and with Penny's full time wages, they were given a mortgage. It was just right for a family of two adults and four children, but now, tonight, there were four adults and nine children in the house. Penny couldn't really complain. When Leonard and Penny had moved to Altadena from the apartment Amy and Sheldon had taken the opportunity to move back in. there was no way Amy could have gone back to that apartment after Sheldon's death. There were too many memories there and she couldn't bare to walk into the building knowing that she wasn't going to walk through the door and see Sheldon singing his way down the stairs, or stood at his white board trying to sort out some equation or math problem. It had been Penny's idea for Amy and the kids to move in with them, they were in the process of building a annex for Amy and the kids to move into properly. Sheldon's life insurance paying for it all. Penny felt helpless as she sat on the couch with Kristian feeding from her, but she knew that her friends and husband were right, there was no point in risking her stitches for a second time, they had burst once before and this time she might not be so lucky.

"all settled?" Penny asked placing Kristian on her shoulder and doing up the clip on her nursing bra

"they are" Leonard bent down to pick up Kristian and put him to his shoulder "let me settle this little bundle, you and Amy sit with Bernadette"

"thank you, night sweetie" Penny planted a kiss on her baby's head and snuggled into his tummy "Mommy loves you"

"I love you too, Mommy" Leonard laughed, trying to mimic what a two week old baby might sound like "see you in the morning"

"more like in two hours" Amy started, remembering what it was like when her children were babies, stopping herself before the memory of Sheldon being there during this time became too much to handle

"that's right" Bernadette giggled before stopping, for a similar reason to Amy's

"I'm sorry girls" Penny sighed, wincing as sitting in the same position for too long made her stitches ache "flaunting my relationship"

"hey. Come on" Amy smiled as best she could "we don't want your relationship to sour"

"no, exactly" Bernadette agreed "please don't feel you and Leonard can't be like you've always been"

"I feel guilty" Penny sighed again, her post natal blues not helping the situation "Leonard and I are happy, weve just had a baby while…"

"I know" Amy sighed "my husband's dead, and Bernadette's is a jerk"

"you're not wrong there, Amy" Bernadette agreed "my husband is a massive jerk"

"so what are you going to do" Amy asked, having found out what happened with Howard via Penny "I'm so sorry by the way"

"he's gone" Bernadette answered sadly "he's staying at Raj's while he's away, but when he comes home from India, I'm not sure what he's going to do"

"do you think there's a way back" Penny asked, hoping she wouldn't upset Bernadette too much, but knowing it needed to be said "I mean he's the father of your children"

"well, he should have thought about that before he screwed that fresh out of college slut" Bernadette answered in her defensive Mrs Wolowitz senior voice "I'm sorry, I'm just hurting"

"I know" Penny forgave her friend instantly "I shouldn't have asked"

"it's okay" Bernadette let down her guard a little "I just don't know how I'm going to trust him again, I can't believe he did this to me"

"what have you told the kids?" Amy asked, concerned, remembering the time she had to break horrific news to Stephen and remembering his little face

"nothing yet" Bernadette shrugged "they know though, they heard us arguing"

"that's unfortunate" Penny sighed "they must be so frightened"

"not helping" Bernadette answered sternly, trying not to let the mrs Wolowitz voice strike again

"I'm sorry" Penny shrugged "do you want me to wrap you in cotton wool or do you what me to be honest?"

"honest" Bernadette clarified "always, honest"

"right, then you need to make some hard decisions" Penny gave a sympathetic smile "you need to tell those kids what's going on, you need to sit down with Howard and discuss things going forward, you can do all your screaming and shouting with us, with Leonard, hell even with Raj when he comes back from India, but please, not in front of your children"

"we thought they were asleep" Bernadette pleaded "I only found out yesterday"

"the sooner they know what's going on the longer they have to accept it" Penny told her, softer this time "if you put it off it'll be going on for too long and you'll never tell them, then one day they'll find out and never trust you again"

"you're right" Bernadette agreed "I'm sorry Penny"

"and we'll be here the whole time" Amy rubbed her arm

"yeah, you can do it here" Penny assured her

"thank you" Bernadette started crying again "what would I do without my girls?"

"we're always here for each other" Amy smiled, "it's what has been getting me through since Sheldon…"

"right well" Penny pulled herself off the couch, wincing as she could feel the pull of her stitches down below "its time for a tiny human to suck on my breasts again"

"you know you're not supposed to have sex for six weeks after giving birth" Amy joked, winking at Penny "oh, you mean your baby"

"that was funny" Penny rolled her eyes "seems the old Amy is on her way back"