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Penny groaned as her alarm clock woke her up at 7.30am. It was way too early to get up for work. She yawned and felt her eyes begin to close but she forced herself to get up as she couldn't be late for work again. Her car had finally conked out a few months ago and until she had the funds, she had to make do with taking the bus to work as no one else would take her across town to the office. She had quit working for the cheesecake factory six months ago after management had changed and cut the staff's wages in half. Instead, Penny now worked as a receptionist at a small lawyers firm and she couldn't decide which job had been worse: working for next to nothing at the cheesecake factory where she would regularly get touched up by customers or at Burkett and Sons Law firm where, although her wage was much, much higher, she was treated like she was stupid or she didn't know what she was doing half the time. It didn't help that her boss was also freakishly into his cat and liked to make her look after it.

Penny ran to get the bus and unfortunately found that she had to wait 15 minutes as it was late. That would surely mean that she would be late to work again and that couldn't be good… she was already riding on a thin ice so hopefully it wouldn't crack today. Finally the bus arrived and Penny sighed in annoyance when she realised that it was full of people, luckily however she did manage to spot one seat vacant as a passenger got off. As she turned to sit down, a pregnant lady boarded the bus and Penny sighed, realising that she it would only be right for her to give up her seat for the pregnant lady. It was just typical! The woman muttered a quiet word of thanks before sitting down. Penny held onto the railing and just let her blonde hair cascade in front of her face. Bloody pregnant women… Sheldon was right. Babies should be grown in test tubes. When she finally got off the bus Penny ran as quickly as she could to the firm before dashing into her boss's office with a cup of coffee from Starbuck.

'You're late,' her boss said, picking up his cat "Mrs Jarvis" and staring down at her, '4 minutes after 9, Penny. We agreed to 8.59.'

'I know and I'm sorry Mr Burkett but the bus was really late. I got you your coffee though!'

'Too late, Ned already got it for me.' Burkett said, looking at the keen nerdy intern sitting to his left. Penny looked at Ned and rolled her eyes. He was the typical suck up and she was pretty sure he was trying to get her job. 'Now Penny, I found two errors in your transcriptions of my last meeting. A spelling mistake and a missing hyphen… it's unacceptable.'

'Are you sure because I double checked with the oxford dictionary,' Penny said with despair and to her annoyance, Ned got up and pushed the bridge of his glasses further back on his nose.

'You should always cross reference with the military dictionary because it's the definitive source.'

'Exactly. Now Penny, the intern shouldn't be doing a more thorough job than you.'

'You're right, I'm sorry I didn't give enough thought to a missing hyphen,' Penny said, trying to keep Burkett happy. The last thing she wanted to do was piss him off otherwise she was pretty sure she was going to lose her job.

'Well think of it next time, there are probably a million other girls that would kill for your job Penny.'

'Yeah Penny, personal receptionist to the head of the firm is a dream for… for so many of us,' Ned added before walking out so just Penny rolled her eyes. She'd save her crass remark for him later.

'No worries though Penny, I have a wonderful job for you to do and I'm sure you'll ace this seeing as you are well practiced at it,' Burkett grinned and Penny inwardly groaned, praying it was nothing to do with Mrs Jarvis, 'Mrs Jarvis needs her bath, she's starting to smell a bit like a cat and we can't have that.'

'But she is a cat… ok yeah sure, I'll do it.' Penny said, quickly correcting herself after receiving daggers from Burkett. She then found herself holding the tabby in her arms before she turned around and left his office. She leant down and smelt the cat… she still smelt fresh from the time she had last washed Mrs Jarvis, which was two days ago, 'My ass you smell like cat.' Penny growled before entering the women's bathroom and filling up the sink with water and soap, 'Come on Mrs Jarvis, time to have your bath so pleeeeease don't put up a fight you mangy cat.' Penny picked up Mrs Jarvis and popped her in the sink. The cat hissed slightly before finally accepting that she was having a bath.

Halfway through bathing Mrs Jarvis, Penny's friend Anna entered the bathroom. Penny had found a kindred spirit in Anna. They both were receptionists and disliked their job, they were both into fashion, and both young and blonde. 'He's making you wash that darn cat again?' Anna asked, opening the bathroom window and lighting up a cigarette.

'Unfortunately.' Penny sighed.

'I don't get it, why doesn't he make that stupid Ned guy do it or why don't you just quit?' Anna asked and Penny sighed.

'Because… this job pays really well and I need the money. I'm saving up for a new car so as soon as I get one I'll start looking for a new job and Ned? Well his head is so far up Burkett's ass that I'm just glad I'm not washing the shit off of his scrawny little head. Why haven't you left yet?'

'I'm still screwing James, and well sleeping with your boss has its perks.' Anna said flippantly, taking a drag out of her cigarette.

'You're still sleeping with him?'

'Yeah, you should try it. Being a man's mistress is a satisfying job. You get sex on a regular basis, they give you gifts and hiding it from their wives makes it sneaky and exciting,' Anna laughed and Penny shook her head, shuddering.

'Babe, I think you're forgetting who my boss is.'

'Oh God, yeah my bad.' Anna grimaced.

'I cannot wait to get out of here. As soon as I have my car or I get a really good acting job this job is gone!' Penny laughed, towel drying Mrs Jarvis. Penny set down the cat and walked over to Anna, taking the cigarette off of her and taking a drag for herself. Penny wasn't usually one to smoke but when she had stressful days like today, the occasional drag helped. 'I swear this job is going to be the death of me if I don't leave soon.'

Anna frowned as she saw Mrs Jarvis starting to eat something on the surface, 'What that evil cat eating now?'

'Huh?' Penny turned to look at Mrs Jarvis and let out a shriek, 'No! Mrs Jarvis that's soap you can't eat that!' Anna began to laugh at her and took a final drag of the cigarette.

'Burkett is gonna kill you if he finds out you let his precious cat eat soap.'

'Not helping Anna! He won't find out, Mrs Jarvis is a cat… it's not like she can talk.' Penny said, sighing. She then took Mrs Jarvis back to Burkett's office. 'One cat all cleaned and smelling fresh and non-cat like.'

'Oh Mrs Jarvis, you smell so beautiful, look at you, you are so…' Burkett stopped short when Mrs Jarvis was sick all over his suit. Unfortunately for Penny, the sick was pink and bubbly and in her own way the stupid cat had managed to rat her out. 'What did you feed her?'

'Um, she may have eaten a bar of soap whilst I was distracted for a minute.'

'You let her eat soap!' Burkett yelled, 'Right, well I'm going to have to book her in for a full body scan on Monday and you shall have the honour of taking her.'

'But Monday is my day off… I have plans!' Penny cried.

'Not anymore you don't. You're taking Mrs Jarvis for her scan.'

'But Mr Burkett, Ronald… please. I'll take her first thing on Tuesday!'

'Are you answering back to me?'

'What no?'

'You probably think I'm probably a cat crazed loon… well I'm not. Mrs Jarvis is family and we look out for each other.'

'I never said you didn't.'

'Do you know what I think? I think that you think a blonde beauty like yourself shouldn't be washing cats as part of her job. That thought must have surely crossed your mind.'

'Well maybe once or twice.'

'Well you're wrong! You are my receptionist and you do what I tell you. If I want Mrs Jarvis to have a bath, you will do it for me! If I want her to go for a full body scan because you practically poisoned her, you're going to take her.'

'Oh please… you practically love that cat more than a human being. I mean you'd probably date it if you could though she's probably repulsed by your breath which, by the way, is utterly putrid today.' Penny snapped before smacking her hands over her mouth in shock.

'You have some pretty strong opinions about me Penny.'

'Mr Burkett, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean any of it!'

'If you dislike me so much and you can't stand your job, I'm not sure if it's a good idea if you continue working for me.'

Penny gasped and shook her head. No, she couldn't lose her job! It was so difficult to get a job nowadays and she was lucky to even have escaped her waitressing job. Oh and then Sheldon would have a field trip ripping into her about her carelessness over her job. 'Please you can't do this… I need this job!'

'Watch me.' Burkett smirked, 'You're fired.'

'No, you can't fire me!'

'You're fired.' He repeated.

'You can't… I'm…' Penny racked her brain trying to remember anything she could about that time when she dated that law student at college. Then it clicked…. 'I'm pregnant!'

'Pregnant?' Burkett asked, his brow furrowing.

'Yes, I'm totally pregnant… you know like Mary when she gave birth to Jesus or when y'know when Kate Middleton gave birth to Prince George.' Penny lied, her heart racing, 'The doctor told me that pregnancy can totally mess up my hormones and stuff cause it releases all these weird chemicals into my body and that's what's messing me up and making all this totally untrue stuff coming out my mouth!'

'Pregnant? I wasn't aware you even had a boyfriend.'

'Oh yeah, I totally do. We've been going out for three years now.' Penny said. What was she getting herself into for Pete's sake! She didn't have a boyfriend at all!

'Really? What's the father's name?'

'Sheldon Cooper.'Penny said with ease before mentally gawking. What the hell? Of all names she could have picked, she picked Sheldon! Oh this was not good, this was not good!

'And when are you due?' he asked and Penny swallowed

'Octember… I mean end of October, beginning November.'

'You're almost four months pregnant!' Burkett cried in disbelief, looking up and down her body which Penny was sure could be classed as sexual advancement.

'Yup,' Penny said, not looking into his eyes.

'Well, according to the law, legally, we cannot fire a pregnant woman. So count yourself lucky Penny. Now get back to work.' He spat through gritted teeth. Penny let out a sigh of relief but she couldn't help but wonder what the hell she had just gotten herself into.

Hey everyone, thanks for taking the time on reading my new story. Would be really nice to know what you think, so shoot me a review. Enjoy the rest of your day! xx