A/N: Hope you guys will like this little set up. I really have no clue who many chapters this will be, not really thought the story all the way through yet. As you know, I don't own anything to do with BBT, nor do I make money with this.
Penny walked into her home, almost dead on her feet. Most shooting days were long, but today had been extra long, with several scenes requiring darkness and a bunch of scenes broad daylight. She had been up for nearly twenty-four hours and had had maybe three hours of rest spread out over the day.
She kicked off her heels and walked over to the master bedroom, undressed, and fell onto the bed. She checked her phone messages and found only one, from her fiancé, Brad, informing her that his movie was going overtime. Probably because you're the worst actor in the world, she thought to herself. But at least that meant she'd have another week or so before he would be back, which suited her just fine. Undoubtedly he'll keep himself busy banging the director's assistant or one of the extras.
She really hoped the tabloids would pick up on his infidelity soon, so she could finally end this farce, and go back to be by herself and just be happy. She still wasn't sure how she had let herself get talked into this arrangement. Her agent had gotten a call from his agent, looking for a temporary romance until Brad's career would take off. Unlikely to ever happen, Penny now realized, but her agent had indicated it would be beneficial to her as well, especially since she hadn't had a relationship since her acting career had started; being in a relationship would be the best possible thing for her now. So she had reluctantly agreed to the plan.
It hadn't seemed like such a bad idea, but Brad's agent kept pushing for the two of them to move in together which had eventually led to the engagement. By that time, she had already found out the guy literally slept with any woman who dared to be in his vicinity, and she was ready to bail out. Unfortunately, her agent had overlooked a certain clause in the contract, which didn't allow her to end it without a justifiable reason that could harm her career if she continued the charade. I.e., the tabloids needed to do their work and prove that he was sleeping around on her, and that apparently was not as easy as it seemed.
Luckily for her, he no longer even tried to get in the same bed as her. After his first try to have sex with her, she had kicked him in the balls and assured him if he tried that again, she would go all Nebraska on him. The idiot had tried again and had been lucky she only left some bruises in an area that would not be visible under normal circumstances. That had put a stop to his attempts.
Penny sighed and crawled under the covers before turning off the light. At least she had the Friday and the weekend all to herself with no work and, most importantly, no Brad to deal with.
"She's so hot. You know, if she and I would ever meet, I bet she'd be all over me in a heartbeat."
Leonard frowned. "Howard, you say that almost every week, each week about a different woman, and they're always unattainable. Maybe you should focus more on, I don't know, women that might actually be in your league? Besides, isn't she married or something?"
His friend shrugged. "Engaged, but the guy is a real douchebag. I'm fairly certain he's sleeping around on her."
Leonard grinned. "Probably with all the women you've claimed would be 'all over you.'"
"The point is," Howard continued, "their relationship is probably rocky already. So I think I'd have a real shot at her."
"Oh, yes, I'd say your chances of her being 'all over you' are about as good as Leonard's chances of winning a Nobel Prize," Sheldon agreed.
Leonard turned to his roommate. "Hey, I have just as big of a chance as you."
"And the both of you are equally delusional about your chances," Sheldon concluded.
Leonard was about to comment, when president Siebert's voice rang out. "Gentlemen. As you may have heard, starting this Monday a movie crew will be filming in and around our university for approximately two weeks. I've just been told that they would like one of the scientists to function in a consultancy role for their scientific scenes."
"Oh, I would not care for that at all," Sheldon interrupted.
"Don't worry, Dr. Cooper, we weren't planning on asking you. Dr. Hofstadter is the one who will be consulting the writers and setup various experiments. In addition you will be working with the female lead to help her with the science lines and performing the experiments on camera."
Leonard frowned. "Why me? I'm sure there's someone..."
"Who's the actress," Howard interrupted.
"Uhm, Penny… something."
Leonard knew where this was going and shook his head.
"Wait, are you saying this blonde goddess," Howard pointed to the picture he had shown earlier. "The hottest woman in the world will be here for two whole weeks?"
President Siebert turned to Howard. "Yes, Mr. Wolowitz. And no, you will not get to meet her." He turned back to Leonard. "Dr. Hofstadter, in case it wasn't clear, your cooperation is not optional."
"Leonard, you lucky bastard," Howard said to him, once president Siebert had walked off.
Leonard frowned. "Lucky? I don't think so."
"You get to work with her every day for two weeks, believe me, you're a lucky bastard."
"Oh really? And what makes you think that? You think she, and the entire crew, will be nice, treat me like a colleague? I'll tell you how they'll treat me. I'll be the egghead they need to make their story semi-believable, not a friend. I'll be the geek they can make fun of, all 'good natured ribbing', of course. It'll be like high school all over again."
"Penny? You're early."
Penny smiled at her agent, a dark skinned woman in her late forties. "Hi, Sheila. I had three days to rest, so that helped a lot. Besides, I figured the first day here, things may be a little hectic with fans and stuff."
Sheila leaned over to whisper in Penny's ear. "I heard Brad's movie went in overtime, so I guess you had a very good weekend?"
Penny nodded, but remained quiet, afraid anyone around them would hear or see how happy she was Brad had not returned yet.
Sheila winked at her nonverbal response. "So, the good thing is, CalTech is primarily a technical institution, meaning that most people here seem much more interested in all the equipment. Now, I'm not saying you won't have to deal with fans, but at the moment most of them are too occupied by the crew setting up." She motioned ahead. "So, I think we should see if our consultant is available, so the two of you can meet."
Penny nodded and followed her agent through the many corridors, trying to keep track of the route, but finding it almost impossible. "Ugh, I'd never find my way back."
Sheila turned around, smiling. "Don't worry. Your assistant knows the way by heart. She's probably already at the consultant's lab."
Penny nodded, making a mental note to ask Andrea to draw her a map, just in case. Eventually they arrived at a lab all the way at the end of the corridor, Sheila explaining they had chosen the location specifically to be out the way as much as possible. Sheila knocked on the doorframe and entered.
Penny followed and looked around in wonderment at the numerous devices present.
"Penny, this is Dr. Hofstadter," Sheila drew her attention to a short, dark haired man, his back turned towards them. "Dr. Hofstadter this is P..."
"Please, call me Leonard."
As he turned around she saw he wore glasses. She stuck out her hand. "Hi, you just call me Penny," she said, waiting for him to accept her handshake. As they shook hands, Leonard once again said his name, smiling nervously in just about every direction but her. "So, I guess we'll be working closely together for the next two weeks?"
He smiled nervously again, almost stammering out his single word confirmation. He looked like a poor puppy who thought he'd done something bad and would be punished, though for the life of her she couldn't figure out why he was so scared. After a few seconds he looked at her, frowning slightly and glancing back down every so often at their still joined hands.
Penny felt herself start to blush at the realization and let go of his hand. "Sorry," she said. She turned around, pretending to look at his lab, but mostly to hide her embarrassment. She frowned slightly at the surprised look and knowing smile on her agent's face, not quite understanding why the woman was looking like that.
"Well, now that the two of you have been introduced, I'll go see if I can find your assistant. She should know all the details. Will you be okay here, Penny? I don't know exactly when your assistant will be back."
Penny nodded. "Yeah, sure. If I need to go anywhere, Leonard, " she turned toward him, "can take me there, right Sweetie?"
"Uh, yeah. Sure."
She smiled brightly at him and turned back to Sheila. "See?" She frowned again when her agent was grinning at her.
"Yes, I do see," the woman replied, before leaning in for a hug, whispering, "be careful. Brad has to get caught first."
Penny's frown deepened as they parted. Was Sheila thinking she was interested in Leonard?
Leonard had to agree on one thing with Howard. This woman was just stunning, and almost certainly the most beautiful creature in the entire universe. And she was nothing like he had envisioned actresses to be. She had a warm, bright personality, and was telling him stories about growing up in a small town out of Omaha, on a farm, and how she had been able to rebuild a tractor engine at the age of twelve.
She told him she had moved to LA almost seven years ago with her then boyfriend, to see if she could have a career as an actress, and gotten her big break two years ago, when she was about ready to give up on her dream of making it big.
He felt her pain as she talked about her boyfriends and how they had all cheated on her. He couldn't begin to fathom why anyone lucky enough to have this woman's love would even be interested in other women.
He then told her about himself, initially just talking about the time since he had moved here, but gradually talking more about the time before that, emboldened by the fact Penny seemed very sympathetic, occasionally rubbing a hand on his arm. He felt more and more at ease being around her.
The both of them looked up at the sound of a throat being cleared to see Penny's assistant standing, an odd mixture of amusement and disapprovement on her face.
"Oh, hi, Andrea," Penny said brightly, jumping off the workbench she had sat on. "Have you met Leonard yet?"
The young woman nodded. "Yes, I have."
Leonard frowned at the warning tone of voice, and Penny's subsequent change in demeanor.
"Sheila told me you arrived earlier, which is great, since they'd like to start with wardrobe and make-up a little early. They're already waiting for you."
Penny nodded. "Okay." She turned around, smiling brightly. "See you soon, Leonard. Bye!"
"Uh, yeah. Bye." His frown remained even as she left his lab. Despite the seemingly happy way she said bye, something had happened to her when Andrea had arrived. But Leonard had no clue what or why.
"What the hell are you thinking?"
Penny frowned at Andrea, copying her whispered manner of speaking. "I was just talking to him."
Andrea stopped and pulled Penny to the side. "Listen to me. If you get caught interested in someone else then Brad, you'll be in a lot of trouble. You have to wait until he gets caught."
Her frown deepened. "I'm not interested in anyone."
"Oh please. When I walked in you were rubbing his arm, for Pete's sake! I saw what you were doing. I didn't believe it when Sheila told me you had fallen for the egghead..."
"His name is Leonard," Penny interrupted, feeling insulted on his behalf. "And I have not fallen for him. He's just a nice guy and easy to talk to, that's all."
"Whatever," Andrea said. "Just don't go too far with this Beauty and the Geek thing." She then continued to wherever they were going.
Penny followed her, the frown remaining. Why were people suddenly thinking she'd fallen for Leonard? He was just nice. And sure, he was kinda good looking, in a less obvious way, but she hadn't fallen for him. She was just being a nice person, a friend.
Yeah, they could be friends. Being friends was good. Friends hung out together. Friends could rub each others arms in sympathy, or give each other consoling hugs. She could still see his smile, his curly black hair or look at his cute tushy whenever his back was turned to her. "Holy crap on a cracker!" She felt a blush starting to spread across her face.
Andrea looked back and grinned, despite her obvious disapproval. "Realized something, did ya?"
She glared back, still feeling the blush. "Shut up."
"Just be careful, Penny."
She nodded, wondering what to do now. For the next two weeks she'd be working with him on a daily basis. If both Sheila and Andrea had picked up on what she now realized to be a crush at the very least, it wouldn't take long for others to notice. She really needed to be professional here, ignore her feelings, at least when others were around. She was going to need her acting abilities twenty-four-seven.
Leonard frowned as Howard left his lab, not quite sure what had happened. One minute they'd been talking, Leonard telling him about meeting Penny, the next Howard blew up in his face about being a hypocrite and to stay away from her. He shrugged and turned back to his workbench to go over the setup once more. Howard was probably just jealous since he had been ordered to stay away from the beautiful actress. Besides, Leonard had no time to think of what possibly might be going through his friends mind; he needed to make sure he hadn't made a mistake that would make him look like a fool to Penny.
She really was an amazingly sweet woman, he thought to himself, a little smile forming as he thought back to their conversation earlier in the lab. She had just jumped up on an empty part of the workbench as she told him about her life. She'd seemed so at ease, had not put him down further as he told her about his life. It had just been an amazingly fun and relaxed half hour with just the two of them.
He found he was actually looking forward to spend more time with her, even if it was just helping her with her lines and the various scenes in which she had to use the equipment in his lab. He didn't really care for the other people that were going to be there, various meetings with both crew and cast having already shown him even adults and professionals could still be cruel.
"Hi!"
Leonard turned toward the door to see Penny standing there, make-up all done and wearing clothes that would be totally impractical but showed off her beautiful figure. "Hey, you found your way back."
She grinned as she entered the lab. "Uh-huh, thanks to this handy little map Andrea gave me," she waved a piece of paper, her grin disappearing. "Though I still got lost at one point." Her smile returned. "But I made it!"
He grinned back at her. "Well, I'm glad you didn't get lost permanently." He suddenly remembered something. "Oh, do you have a smartphone with GPS on it? Because my friend made an app with all the corridors, labs, rooms, the entire campus. And because it knows your position, it can direct you to wherever you need to go."
She moved over to him, retrieving her iPhone. "That sounds like exactly the thing I'm going to need."
He accepted her phone, configured it for the university's WiFi network, and then installed the app Howard had designed. Minutes later the app was up and running and he suddenly noticed how close the beautiful actress was standing to him, looking over his shoulder. "Okay, let me show you how to use it. Here, you can select where you need to go, and here you can specify if you need to pass a certain other location. The system automatically tracks when corridors are blocked due to maintenance, so you'll always get where you need to go."
Penny's finger moved over the display, pressing herself slightly against him in the process. "And I can set the location as a favorite with this button, right?"
Leonard nodded. "Yep." He watched as she marked the current location and named it 'Leonard'.
"So," she said after pocketing the phone, gesturing at his workbench. "This is the science-y thing needed in the scene we'll shoot tomorrow?"
Leonard looked at the setup, suddenly realizing he hadn't spent a lot of time going over it to rule out any mistakes, and found himself become nervous. What if there was a mistake? "Uh, yeah. It's mostly for show, doesn't really do anything useful."
Penny frowned slightly. "Are these scenes all bogus?"
Leonard shrugged. "Most of the setups are kinda bogus."
"How 'bout the techno mumbo-jumbo?"
"Actually, most of that makes sense and are based on sound scientific principles."
She smiled. "In that case you better help me pronounce it all correctly."
Leonard nodded and smiled back at her. "Sure, that is what I'm here for. But I'm sure you'll do fine."
"Thanks," she said, looking a little shy. "So, uhm, when would you be available to go over the lines with me? I mean, we have a couple scenes we'll be rehearsing this afternoon, but for tomorrow's scenes I think I really am gonna need your help. So, uhm, I was hoping you wouldn't mind to, you know, help me after?"
"Uhm, yeah, sure. No problem."
She smiled brightly. "Great, then it's a date. I'll come to your lab around five-ish?"
He simply nodded, not sure what to say.
She gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Great! I have to get back to rehearse some scenes." She retrieved her phone, holding it up. "Thanks for the map. Bye, Leonard!"
He stared after her, even after she had walked out of his lab, his hand touching the cheek she had only moments ago kissed, a little smile on his face.