Penny tiredly opened the door to 4A and yawned as she tried to make as little noise as possible. It was a little past four in the morning, Sheldon would still be asleep and she wanted to give him that extra hour of sleep. So despite wanting to throw her backpack and bag noisily to the ground she carefully removed them and put them near the door.

Filming was really fun but it could be so exhausting, she hadn't considered that shows using soundstages didn't depend on natural lighting, so they could be used for filming at any time of the day and their studio seemed to love to film from the afternoon and into the early morning.

They had just finished filming up to episode eleven, which was slated to premiere September 22nd, if the show had good ratings by episode 8 then CBS would greenlit the second back half of the season and Penny would have to go back to filming around October or November. She was hoping that the show would be a hit.

She sat tiredly on the couch and closed her eyes.

The next thing she knew it was already bright out, somehow she was lying on the couch and not sitting on it, her shoes were off and a blanket was covering her. She squinted against the light for a moment before standing up and walking to Sheldon's desk. She knew that he hated when she walked barefoot but she loved the feeling of the hardwood floor, plus Sheldon made sure the floors were pristine. The digital clock on Sheldon's desk showed that it was almost one o'clock in the afternoon.

Checking the fridge, Penny was happy to see a tinfoil covered plate.

Filming was fun, but there was nothing like coming home.

After filming Criminal Minds, Penny was able to land a commercial for Folgers. She played a young mom and while the commercial did lean a bit too heavy on the 'hot soccer mom' angle, work was work. She was hoping that her show would be a success, but until she knew, she had to keep working. Of course she was on retainer, but one and done jobs like commercials were thankfully okay, her agent made sure to check.

Her dad had called her to congratulate her on the Folgers commercial, apparently it wasn't a regional commercial but a nationwide one. It also led to an interesting conversation with her dad.

"Your mom says she's proud of you."

Penny scoffed. "You don't have to lie, dad."

"No, no, she really did say that." Her dad sounded just as surprised as she was.

"Mom said that?" Penny frowned at the phone in her hand.

"She did…look, Penny, I know she wasn't the best mother, but…I promised I wouldn't say anything but, she's been going to these AA meetings and it might stick this time."

"...right…"

They moved on from that subject but once the call had ended and Penny was left alone with her thoughts, she was surprised and shocked by finding out that she didn't care. She was happy that her mom was apparently finding the help she needed, but she can't lie to herself. She's indifferent to her mom.

She had tried so hard to please both her parents as she grew up, and while she had some good years with her dad, the truth of things is, she never had that with her mom. The one good memory she has with her might not be real at all and might have been a fever dream.

Hearing her dad say that her mom said she was proud of Penny made her confused, not angry, not sad, just confused. Did her mom even know that Penny was now a married woman? Did it matter?

At some point, the anger she had felt towards her mom had transformed into indifference.

Life returned to normal while they waited for her show to premiere. Caltech had a gala coming up and it would be Fred's first, Kelly was super nervous about being in a room full of bigshots, her dream had been to be able to help troubled kids and that's why she became a guidance counselor. It took Penny, Fred AND Sheldon to get her to calm down enough to agree to go to the gala.

Penny took her shopping and to a spa. Kelly and her were going to stun people.

Penny had already attended several of these events, enough that she became one of the 'faculty wives' which was an amusing title for their group because it also included the husbands of several professors.

She knew the drill, several wealthy people would attend the gala, talk with the people there and then throw money at the University. (Sheldon still got upset when she described it like that.)

Sheldon hated these things but he was not blind to the fact that these people were what made experiments, grants, expeditions and more happen. He simply had to grin and play nice, and this time around he would have Fred with him, so it should be a piece of cake.

Well, that is if he didn't tell one of his dad jokes. That was a thing he had recently discovered he liked, dad jokes. His favorite joke was "What do you call a factory that makes okay products?" "A satisfactory. Bazinga." And he would do his breathy laugh.

She loved the man, but he could never read the room.

The gala had been going great. Kelly was nervous but she was able to mingle and make nice with people, Fred was keeping an eye on Sheldon to make sure he wasn't too rude and Penny was able to catch up with people. All in all, it was business as usual.

And then an asshole had to come ruin it.

She had just said goodbye to Marissa Hooke, a lovely lady that worked as a theater director, they had hit it off almost immediately when they first met 2 years ago and ever since they made sure to make room for each other during the night. As soon as Marissa had walked away, she heard Sheldon's voice "-sfactory. Bazinga." and the group of people with him groaned good-naturedly at his lame joke.

"Embarrassing isn't it?" A whiny voice said, she looked up from her hand to see a short geeky looking man in a horrible plaid suit, pointing with his chin at Sheldon.

"Excuse me?" He hadn't just said what she thinks he said, right?

"I meant Dr Cooper. You know, he's an embarrassment? He doesn't know how to be a regular person." He actually looked proud saying that.

"Is that right?" Her tone was neutral but she wanted nothing more than to deck the asshole.

"Yeah!" He looked excited, as if she had agreed with him. "He's also overrated and not as good as people think he is." He did a funny looking dance jumping on the balls of his feet, probably trying to look taller and extended his hand to her. "I'm Leonard. Dr. Leonard Hofstadter." He put extra emphasis on the word doctor.

Penny looked at the offered hand in disgust and did not shake it. "I'm Mrs Cooper." She made sure to say it loud and proudly.

The self-satisfied grin on his face froze and he squeaked out. "Cooper?"

"The wife of Dr Sheldon Cooper." Penny was openly glaring at him now. "If you excuse me, I have to go meet my husband."

Stiffly due to her anger, she walked up to Sheldon and Fred who immediately noticed she was beyond pissed off, she quickly whispered an explanation and pointed at the short man in the horrible suit whose name she had already forgotten.

Penny was still very pissed off, how dare that goblin badmouth her Moonpie. Sure, he wasn't the most social person, but he had come a long way to try and understand other people. She swiped at the angry tears on her face.

Penny had kept her composure for the rest of the gala but as soon as she got home and started to remove her makeup in their bathroom, the tears started. Of course she was perfectly aware that not everyone was a fan of Sheldon, she thought she had made peace with that, but to hear some asshole reduce Sheldon like that…it pissed her off.

Sighing, she let go of the feelings, Sheldon was still doing his routine of securing the apartment and preparing for bed. He would be waiting for her and no doubt notice how pissed she still was.

'Inhale' Her Moonpie was amazing.

'Exhale' He could be frustrating as well, but that didn't make him less of a person.

And most important of all, Sheldon had Penny.

It was them against the world. He taught her that her efforts were not being wasted, that College was not a bad choice. That her dreams could come true. She loved her Moonpie, and he loved her. They had found each other and neither was letting go.

"Now Penny," She said to her reflection. "Go screw your husband silly."

"Dr Hofstadter. To what do we owe the…pleasure of seeing you here?" Dr Chadwick didn't have his signature smile. Dr Cooper sat at his desk and looked at Leonard in an inscrutable way.

"I wanted to come and apologize." Leonard knew this song and dance very well, make yourself smaller, look pathetic and make a pained face. "I drank a little too much on the night of the gala and said some things that I deeply regret." Wring your hands together and shuffle on your feet. "I'm sorry." Sound sincere.

Dr Chadwick glanced at Dr Cooper but then turned to focus on Leonard once again. Neither man spoke which made Leonard start to sweat.

"So, uh, yeah, that's all I wanted to say." Leonard could feel himself start to flush in actual embarrassment. Dr Cooper looked back down at the papers in his hands and did not acknowledge Leonard's presence in any way.

"Uh, I read your latest paper on-" Leonard tried to tell Dr Cooper but Dr Chadwick interrupted him before he could say more.

"Dr Hofstadter, please close the door on your way out." Still no smile, just a serious face.

"Ah, yes."

Leonard closed the door and stood on the other side. He removed his glasses and rubbed at the tears in his eyes. Dr Cooper had been the main reason of why he had moved to Caltech, and now he might have just fucked up his chances to be able to collaborate with him in the future.

"God, I can't catch a break." He muttered to himself.

He doesn't want to go to the lab, but he works there so against his better judgment he starts walking, like a man to the gallows.

Howard and Raj had told him that Leslie had told them that they were through, the night of the gala he had been too preoccupied with thoughts of his blunder to really think about the reason why Leslie was gone. Which only made him cringe at himself.

He had tried calling her, but his calls went straight to voicemail. He had tried going to her apartment, but she never answered the door. She had even blocked him on Wow.

Arriving at the lab he saw that the other two girls in the team were giving him the cold shoulder, he tried to ignore how that stinged and instead moved towards Leslie.

"Leslie." He waited for her to acknowledge him but she kept fiddling with the vials in front of her. He knew how dangerous this could be so he waited until she was done before trying again. "Leslie."

"Your tasks have been clearly marked in your logbook Hofstadter. There's nothing that requires you talking to me." Leslie was frowning as she wrote something down.

"Leslie, I know I fucked up. I really like you and like spending time with you. Please give me another chance, I swear to you that it won't happen again." He knew that his tone of voice was whiny, but he didn't care. He had been too scared to commit to Leslie, but he wanted to do better. Be better.

Leslie laughed at him. "You can't be serious."

"I'll do whatever it takes to prove it to you." He wanted to avoid his eyes, wanted to look down at his feet, but he knew that if he did that, it would be over.

"You can't expect things to-"

"I'm not!" He interrupted her, uncaring of the looks given to him by the rest of the people in the lab. "I'm not. Let's start over."

Leonard had been stupid, he had a good thing with Leslie, but because of his own hangups he had screwed it. No one else but him was guilty of this. He was working at Caltech which was the dream of many and he had been dating a great girl, he hurt her because he was an idiot. He needed to do better.

"Let's start over. Let me show you that I mean it. You can kick me to the curb if I mess up."

Leslie looked up at the ceiling, as if refusing to watch him. "It's not that easy." Her voice trembled a little, and that killed him. Leslie was always so strong, so composed and he had caused her this pain. He wanted to hold her hand, he wanted to fix this somehow.

"Leslie." His own voice was soft and trembling, he hated showing this level of emotion. He could hear his mom's dismissive voice calling him overemotional. But Leslie was worth it. "Leslie, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry to have hurt you."

"I swear Leonard. This is your fucking last chance." She refused to let the tears fall and looked him straight in the eye.

"I know. I will do better."

That's a promise he made to himself as well. Leonard Hofstadter needed to do better.

Because of that promise it's that later that week, when an undergrad named Joyce Kim approached him and started flirting with him rather openly, he quickly excused himself and told her he was seeing someone. Joyce Kim was beautiful and past-Leonard would most likely have gone along with her advances, but not his current self.

Leslie was waiting for him.

Sheldon watched the short man close the door behind him.

"I still don't understand why you and Penny bother so much with this insignificant man." He told Fred.

Both Fred and Penny had expressed a desire to cause bodily harm on the short man, Penny had also been upset for the rest of the night, even if she tried to disguise it.

Fred sighed. "Because you're my friend, as simple as that."

Sheldon nodded, before Penny he would have deflected and even minimized the other man's feelings, but he wanted to make an effort in not only acknowledging the feelings of others, but also appreciating them. "I see, thank you Fred."

"I still say we should make him pay more."

"What worse punishment than being unable to work with me in the future?"

Fred laughed and smiled at him. "Yeah, you're right Sheldon." Fred stood up and stretched. "I'll come pick you up at lunch time. Oh! Before I forget, Kelly wanted me to confirm that we'll be there on the night Penny's show premieres."

"Excellent, I'll inform Penny even though I suspect she already knows."

"You know what's faster than light?" Before Sheldon could respond Fred quickly said "Our girls talking to each other."

Sheldon frowned and shook his head, he quite liked Fred but some of his comments could be nonsensical.

Penny sat in her spot as the credits rolled on the TV. She had her face in her hands and couldn't look up to face her friends and husband.

"Well, I quite liked it." Sheldon said.

"Yeah, it was pretty good." Fred added.

"I wonder how much of it is-"

"Okay! I forgot that my character doesn't appear until episode two!" Penny threw her hands up and blurted out.

Silence and then Fred's laughter broke through, full belly laughter filled the apartment. Kelly also joined in and even Sheldon did his breathy little laugh. Penny had to join them, she couldn't believe she had forgotten about that.

"So…same time next week?" Kelly was able to finally say after laughing her ass off.

"Maybe this could be our new Wednesday routine." Sheldon mused.

"Yeah, that would be great!" Fred quickly agreed.

The following week Penny finally appeared in her role as 'JJ', and the group praised her acting. She had refused to check ratings for the show but she was hoping that it would be a success. Which is why the call to return to filming ASAP was a surprise, a welcome one, but a surprise nonetheless. CBS greenlit the rest of the season and they would start filming again on October 12th.

Her life was about to get really busy but Penny wouldn't have it any other way.

Penny had been half right, someone at the show was in fact a fan of her husband. But it wasn't a writer, but a producer/showrunner. It was always weird (but in a nice way) when someone went full fangirl because of Sheldon.

Maybe Sheldon would like to come to a shooting.

Shooting doesn't go as fast as with the first half of the season, now that they have room to breathe and that everyone is employed the mood is more relaxed. There's talks of CBS ordering 3 more seasons already but at the moment they're only rumors.

She always dreamed of being the next Julia Roberts, of acting in movies and being a super star. But reality wasn't as kind. Back in UCLA, Laura had made it clear that the people that made it like Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, etc. were the lucky ones, it might have been a breakout role or they captured the audience film after film. But, that was not the reality for most actors, for most of them a long term contract was the dream, to know you would be employed for the next 6, 7, 8 years.

It was a sobering thought.

Of course Penny had applied for movies, but she wasn't blind. Some of the girls in those auditions were drop dead gorgeous, and more importantly, Penny had already beaten them. These gorgeous ladies had been in competition for the role in Scrubs and the one to get it had been Penny. Same for the Folgers commercial and Criminal Minds.

These jaw dropping women might never appear on screen once.

As such, when her agent was presented with the 4 year contract, Penny didn't hesitate to accept it. Of course her agent made sure that the contract was more than fair, Penny would be free to star in movies and commercials as long as it didn't interrupt regular shooting for Criminal Minds.

The interviews were a pain. She had never needed to do a press run before but now that their names were out there, it was needed. Thankfully most of the interviews were done as a group and her time was shorter than for the older and more well known actors, which was perfectly fine with her.

Her dad calls her gushing about the show, she knew he liked Law & Order but wasn't expecting him to get hooked on Criminal Minds. It feels nice to be able to talk with her dad about normal stuff, it feels mundane and normal, without all of the baggage they had been lugging around.

The Cooper family is also a big fan of it, even Georgie sends her a gift basket to celebrate because apparently Mandy became Penny's number one fan. Ceecee is still too young to watch it but she's in the spirit of things and sends her a drawing of her as a cop.

As promised, Fred and Kelly go over on Wednesdays to watch the show, even if Penny isn't there because she's filming the aforementioned show.

They also get a double punch with bad and then good news.

The bad news is that Louise is moving away, she was promoted to Detective but it means she has to move away. She gives them one last banana bread loaf. Even Sheldon looks like he wants to cry.

The good news is that Fred and Kelly take over the apartment, so their best friends will now also live right across the hall. Penny and Kelly squee in delight while Sheldon tries and fails to suppress his pleased smile.

All in all, 2005 was a fantastic year.

2010

"What?" Penny couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Just what it says there, they're not picking up your contract for season 6" To be fair, Paula looked even more pissed than Penny felt.

"What do they mean with budget cuts? Thomas and Shemar get paid double than I do!"

"I know Penny, I fought for it…you're going to hate this next part too, they're offering you a 'recurring' contract instead for 3 episodes."

"Fuck that!"

"Look Penny, this is just how the cookie crumbles sometimes. In my expert opinion, I think it's smart for you to accept it. Go home. Talk it out with Sheldon. It sucks, I know, but you don't want to slam the door on CBS' face." After a pause she adds. "Look…it might be a blessing in disguise. This could be the perfect time for that baby you've been hinting at."

THAT shut Penny up. Her rage melted away as she blinked a couple of times and then hesitantly smiled. "It would mean more time at home…"

"Go, talk with Sheldon." Paula smiled at her.

"-that's what happened. Thoughts?"

Sheldon looked at her and tilted his head, like a puppy. Penny had calmed down quite a bit on the drive home. It's true that it was a slap in the face from CBS, but on the other hand, it would mean more time for other projects. Namely, a baby.

They had discussed the possibility of having a kid and both of them felt ready, Penny was about to turn 30 and the timing just seemed right.

She had been getting steady work thanks to her face getting more and more recognizable, heck, she had even been in a Stevia commercial with Jamie Lee Curtis. Overall Penny was pretty satisfied with her professional life.

Her relationship with Sheldon was still as strong and since Kelly had her baby last year, well, it had made Penny wonder. Holding Fred Jr in her arms made Penny realize that she was ready for a baby.

Right before meeting Sheldon, she had been convinced of never wanting children. She didn't want to punish a kid to suffer what she suffered. The neglect and loveless marriage of a kid pretending to be an adult like her biological mother.

But then Sheldon had come along and it was so different to what she expected out of a relationship. At some point without even knowing how or when, Penny had opened herself to the possibility of becoming a mom. It was frightening of course, but like with most things, knowing that Sheldon was by her side made it all the easier to face.

"I believe that we can make it work." Sheldon finally said. "Fred mentioned that he had seen those new condos on East Glenarm Street and was quite satisfied with their quality. We can organize a visit to ensure they fulfill our needs." Sheldon nodded to himself.

Penny laughed. "I mean, yeah, we can make the baby thing work and find a new place to live. BUT, I meant, the offer from CBS. Do you think I should take it or tell them to beat it?"

"Oh! I think you should take it. I have no doubt that this is the best move for your career moving forward, it might not be the road you would like to take, however, having someone as big as CBS as your enemy would be ill-advised to say the least."

"Tsk, I hate it when you're all rational like that." She went to hug him so he would know she was joking. "Well, baby here we go."

Ceecee was lazily browsing the TV, it was a Sunday afternoon and there was nothing to do. She had wanted to go to the mall with Beth but she got the mumps and now couldn't leave the house.

She kept changing the channel until a familiar face appeared on the screen. "MOM! Aunt Penny is on TV again."

Her mom loved seeing Aunt Penny on TV, it didn't matter what it was, she would watch it. Sure enough, a moment later her mom jumped on the couch next to her and Ceecee chuckled.

"-of a beautiful baby girl, Penelope Cooper!"

"She doesn't like being called Penelope." Her mom shushed her and turned the volume up.

"Thank you Ellen." Aunt Penny waved at the audience.

"Before anything, congratulations on returning to Criminal Minds as part of the Main Cast for Season 7" The audience clapped and hollered. "After a massive outpour of support from fans as well as thousands of letters and petitions, your character is returning."

"Thank you to all of you!" Aunt Penny gestured to the audience who once again hollered. Aunt Penny talked about her character, how much the support of the fans meant to her and what they could expect to see from JJ in the upcoming season.

"Fantastic!" Ellen said. "But that's not the only thing to celebrate, you're now the proud mom of a gorgeous little girl. What's the name of the baby?"

"Yes, she's a sweetheart and her name is Ella."

"And here we have a picture of baby Ella." Ellen pointed to the screen behind the chairs where a picture of her cousin was shown. Her uncle Sheldon was holding her in his lap as he showed her a picture book.

"Mom, when are we meeting Ella?" Ceecee had only seen the pictures that Aunt Penny had sent them, but last Christmas the baby was still too small to travel so they only saw a glimpse of her through Skype.

"Your Aunt says they're definitely coming back for this Christmas, so you'll see her then." Her mom replied but her eyes were stuck on the screen.

"Now, who is that handsome man holding the baby?" Ellen said in a teasing tone.

"Sorry ladies, he's taken. That's my husband, Dr Sheldon Cooper." Aunt Penny said proudly.

"I'm gonna go see if Beth wants to play Age of Conan." Her mom simply nodded but said nothing.

"Are my notes correct here? He's a Nobel Prize Winner?!" Was the last thing Ceecee heard before going upstairs to her room. She had heard that story so many times already. She much rather level up her barbarian character.

Penny felt a little bad at having to leave Ella so soon, but work was booming. She had scaled back on all her activities until she only had Criminal Minds to worry about.

Ella had her daddy with her tho, Sheldon was mostly working from home nowadays and with Fred living in the condo next to them, it made it easier for them to communicate.

She had heard about babies and the terrible twos but so far that wasn't their case with Ella. Her baby was made out of sunshine and rainbows, a smile would always adorn her face and everyone that met her instantly fell in love with her. Penny suspected that her daughter knew her baby blues were an arrow to the heart and wasn't afraid to use them on you.

It was still early in the afternoon when she opened the door to her home, but the place was quiet, way too quiet. Walking to the living room revealed the reason for that, Sheldon was lying on the couch and Ella was laying on top of his chest. Both were fast asleep.

Penny leaned down to kiss Ella and then Sheldon, neither stirred.

Chuckling to herself Penny decided to order dinner, she was too tired to cook and Sheldon could use the extra sleep.

Penny loved acting. But there was nothing like coming home, to her husband and to her baby.

Flying with a baby was hell.

Just pure and unadulterated hell. Ella was usually so well behaved but get her on a plane and she became a crying menace.

Maybe it had been a bad idea to go to Texas for Christmas.

The moment they walk through their Momma's front door tho, it's all worth it. Ella smiles at Meemaw and Momma like she's known them forever and Penny can see that her daughter has already captured the hearts of both women.

Ceecee can't stop squeeing about how cute Ella is and she and Shane entertain Ella while the adults have dinner.

That night, Ella sleeps between Sheldon and her in Meemaw's guest room. They're both exhausted and yet, they stay up a little longer simply watching Ella's chest move up and down.

The look on Sheldon's face is soft and caring. Since Ella was born, he's had this look more often than not. He looks utterly content, not even having won the Nobel Prize had made him look like this.

"What's on your mind Moonpie?" Penny said softly.

"I was thinking of how serendipitous our initial meeting was. How it had led us to this point in time and space." Sheldon looks up at her, his eyes bright. "And how I would do it all over again just to share this moment with you."

"I love you too Moonpie." Penny can feel her eyes sting.

There were a lot of meanings for home. But for Penny it was the man lying across from her and the baby cradled safely between them.

It was good to be home.

fin.

Notes:

I hope you enjoyed it, this was definitely a Universe very close to my heart and while I'm sad to see it conclude, I'm also relieved that I was able to bring it forth in a way that left me truly happy.

Thank you for reading and for your support.

(x^2 + y^2 – 1)^3 = x^2 y^3