Chapter 20

Comedy

One Saturday Morning, Penny had arranged Honey Marie's newly laundered bedroom curtains and stepped back with a sigh of satisfaction. "Well sweetie you will be glad to know your favourite Hello Kitty curtains are back up", Penny said to herself and at that moment the sound of Honey Marie's laughter could be heard outside in the garden below.

Penny smiled contentedly, as she watched Leonard pretending to chase their three Daughters around the Jacaranda tree in the center of their garden. And she giggled to herself as she remembered the hilarious events of yesterday Morning as Leonard, who had had the Friday off, demonstrated to his Daughters how Archimedes had discovered by chance how he could accurately weigh the King's crown, And as far as Penny understood it, it involved Archimedes taking a bath? And crying out Eureka!. But judging by the soaking wet appearance of her husband, his lesson was not a success with the girls. Well not to Leonard's point of view anyway, although the girls had great fun in splashing their father and everything else in the near vicinity of the plastic bath full of water, while crying out Eureka! each time they did so.

And it was a strange fact to Penny later, that although the girls loved getting wet and messy with a small bath of water in the garden. Their great reluctance and profuse complaints, at having to get in the large bath of warm water in the bathroom in order for Penny to get them cleaned up was quite a contrast.

Penny was just in the act of putting her stepladder away after completing her task with the curtains when her cellphone rang. "Hi", "Kay?", "No sweetie! I'm meeting you at the tile place this afternoon?", "That's right we agreed to meet there this Saturday afternoon?, Remember?", "Sweetie are you OK?, only you sound upset?", "No I haven't seen any papers yet?", "Are they?", "OK Sweetie hang on in there we're on our way". And Penny quickly called Kelly, "Kelly?, oh good, sorry to disrupt your day but would you mind driving over here in the pickup truck?, It's for Kay", "oh and bring some overalls would you please, OK, Thanks, I owe you one, see you in half an hour then".

Penny then went to talk to Leonard and informed him of her plan.

When the leading actress of Penny and Leonard's favourite comedy had rang to ask Penny to design and refurbish two guest bedrooms including the en suites and the entrance hall of Kay's house off of Reseda Blvd, Penny was all but turning handsprings in jubilation. And last Thursday afternoon Penny, with Sandra and Kelly had excitedly rushed over with her samples and laptop to meet Kay to determine Kay's likes and preferences.

Now half an hour later, and Kelly and Penny were on their way to the tile place in Santa Monica, both Puzzling as to the reason for Kay's distress and why the Paparazzi were camped out at the front of the tile store.

They entered the store where they found a very tearful and distressed Kay hiding in the Managers office. But Kay was too distressed for any explanations. So Penny quickly told her the plan for smuggling her out of the store, as Kelly took off her paint stained overalls, and handed them to Kay to put them on, along with an old Seattle Seahawks cap on her head and then they filled out the overalls with some toilet tissue, she then along with Kay, picked up a box of tiles each and they walked out of the store to the battered pickup truck, With only Penny drawing some suspicious glances from the lurking photographers, before they decided that she was not the famous actress. While Kelly waited in the store for a further twenty minutes before exiting the store and made her way over towards Kay's car, where by now the Paparazzi had realized that Kelly was not Kay, and that they had been duped and angrily tried to follow only to find themselves behind an MPV which slowly made it's way to the exit, only for the driver to stop at the exit, and get out of his car in order to comfort his little girl who seemed to be in quite some distress which held up the following Paparazzi, and by the time they had got past the MPV, Kelly had disappeared.

Penny had to pinch herself to make sure it was not a dream, for sitting on the sofa in Penny's very own lounge and drinking a coffee personally made by Penny was the famous Comedy star Kay. Penny then suddenly realizing she was star struck and had been unblinkingly staring at Kay with mouth agape, and in the process making Kay a little uncomfortable, so Penny forced herself to reach for the plate of Oreos on the coffee table and after offering one to Kay, Penny began to speak.

"Well why you're here how about we look at some rough sketches I've made of the en suite to bedroom 3", Penny asked as she reached for her laptop, " you will notice I think the wonderful modern design of the heated towel rail along with the the shower valves and head, and if you also note the modern etched design on the shower screen and door that it also compliments...",

"I'm sorry for wasting your time today but I really feel too stressed to be able to concentrate..., God I feel so, so stupid. Do you know? my Family warned me time and again something was going on with my now EX fiance and my PA, But I trusted him, hell I trusted her, and now in every damn tabloid in the world there is a picture of them leaving a seedy nightclub, he's drunkenly almost wearing her for crying out loud, then to top it all another picture of them both leaving a motel the next morning...",

then Kay collapsed into a storm of weeping. Suddenly she stopped and turning to Penny she continued speaking.

"I fixed them though. Yep, I collected every bit of his and also any crap of hers, then I got my gardener to dump it all on the bitches drive. And if that lying creep tries to enter my house, I've got a baseball bat to greet him with", Kay revealed determinedly.

"Well I would think that the humiliation of being publicly exposed would have been enough, but I am certain I would have done exactly the same as you", Penny admitted.

Penny reached for her cell and phoned Leonard, "Hi sweetie, Where are you, great! I'll see you in 15 minutes then, By the way did any of the slime ball's follow you to MacDonald's?, no?, good, are the girls OK?, Well well I guess Honey Marie is a better actress than me at turning on the tears, Give her a thank you kiss from me will you sweetie, Oh, and when you come home could you take Kay home?, OK sweetie, Thanks, I love you.", and as Penny ended the call Kay spoke up in some distress, "Oh please let me stay here, I just can't face going home, really I can't", She pleaded.

"Sure sweetie you're welcome to, but what about your dogs?", Penny reminded her.

"I'll call my Mom and get her to go round and stay", and at that Kay reached for her cell.

While Kay called her Mom, Penny rushed upstairs to tidy up the guest room while shaking her head in utter disbelief that she was going to have a famous actress to stay the night under her very roof.

"How did you do it Penny?, find the right guy I mean. You know, I couldn't fail to notice but you mentioned your family frequently in our meeting that Thursday. What's it like? Being a wife and mother?, how do you balance a career with caring for your husband and children?", Kay asked earnestly.

"Well It's not easy, but I have great support from Leonard and he makes it a little easier for me to cope, and I enjoy having his support in my career too, so I guess it's just teamwork really", Penny explained.

Just then Leonard returned with the girls and after giving his wife a hug and kiss was pleasantly surprised to learn that Kay would be staying the night.

"You look like my Dolly", Angela informed Kay as she waved her Barbie under Kay's nose.

But Kay appeared not to notice at first as she was struck by the look of absolute adoration on Leonard's face as he kissed and hugged his wife.

Kay in that moment realized to her great regret that not one of her past suitors had ever looked at her like that ever.

"Wow, I bet it was love at first sight for you and Leonard", Kay asked her later, as Leonard had left to get the girls clean pajamas.

"Well It certainly was for Leonard, but it was just a crush for me, or so I thought at the time which as most crushes do would quickly fade over time, but this one just kept growing stronger.

You see I had always envisioned that the man I would marry would be quite tall, athletic and handsome, and I just could not see Leonard fitting the bill, but over time I came to realize that I had such a strong yearning to be with him, I mean I dated other guys, guys that did fit my ideal, but none of them produced the excitement and attraction for me that I have always felt by just being in Leonard's company,

Then when I dated Leonard for a while then I foolishly ended it. By now my feelings for him were so strong I became so afraid that if I left it any longer, Leonard would be sure to dump me for a cute scientist like himself and the pain of my heartache would be too much to bear.

But then I found, I still could not be without him, I just could not stay away, ever. Then when I was invited on a spa weekend by my friend Amy, my other friend Bernadette had bumped into her old boyfriend while we were there, and man, he was the most tallest hunkiest piece of beefcake I had ever seen, but despite this Bernadette declared her deep love for her current boyfriend Howard Wolowitz a skinny Guy even shorter than Leonard, and then I realized from that moment on that it is who you love, and also the secure feeling that you positively know that they love you too, that was much more important to Bernadette than just mere appearances, and that's when I realized that Leonard loved me for who I was, sure when later a hot physicist did hit on him later, Leonard, though flattered by the attention, told her that he was very much in love with me. And now, well, here I am today, married to a guy who has become my wonderful soulmate

"You told me that your dream was to be an actress, do you ever regret giving that up", Kay asked Penny.

"Nope, honestly I have all I need or ever want here, besides", she giggled," at my last audition I stank up the place, and I have a little fame with producing the makeover program on T.V. So things are real good right now, really really good", Penny told her, with firm conviction.

And later that night, as Kay lay in her bed in the guest room, she meditated on Penny's explanation that love may not be so obvious at first, but true love will gradually grow over time. She also fixed firmly in her mind of the image, as though frozen in time, of the look of adoration on Leonard's face as he regarded his wife Penny.

And now at last Kay knew exactly the look a Guy's face should display when he truly has deep feelings for a girl, maybe even for Kay.

As one night stretched into two weeks, Kay learned much about the normal life of a family, it was certainly not perfect as the girls, as siblings were prone to do would often argue over toys or who had more cereal than the other and whose turn was it to have the free toy from the cereal packet and on these occasions Leonard and Penny would always display a united front in handling such disputes in a firm loving way, she also learned the importance of showing frequent affection between marriage mates and also for their offspring, how Penny and Leonard themselves had learned over time not to let their careers interfere with their relationship with each other and also their family, no not everything was perfect but a family bound together with love it seemed, would always overcome or endure such difficulties.

After Penny and her team had finished the makeover on Kay's home, Penny never expected to hear from Kay again, but she was wrong. Just a month before they were due to start recording the latest series of Kay's comedy, Kay rang Penny.

"Hi, Penny?, look, please just think about it first, the writers have decided to introduce my character's sister and her husband into the series, now then it will not be every week, but as you and I look alike, I thought you would be perfect for the part, and I wonder if you would like the opportunity to act again?".

Penny thought for a moment, the chance to act in her favourite comedy and with Kay would be a wonderful opportunity . Then after telling Kay, that Penny was very interested indeed though she would have to talk it over with Leonard first, and Kay was not at all surprised at Penny's wish to consult her husband. Penny promised to let Kay know tomorrow.

Leonard though was as excited as Penny at her appearing on the show and insisted firmly that she must take a shot at the part. As after all Leonard knew if she turned it down then Penny would be bound to regret the missed opportunity later in life.

So three days later found Penny auditioning once again for a part, and although a little rusty, Penny still showed great ability in comic timing, and delivering a line in such a way as to enhance the humour of the situation.

In the first episode of the series. The Character Penny was playing, (whose name was Beth in the script), had a little drinking problem, And just to complicate matters Beth had a rather strict and very rich Methodist Mother who had decided to come on a surprise visit. so the hilarious scene with Beth trying to get a drink without her Mother seeing, while Kay's character, (Sarah), and Beth's husband (Played by the equally famous actor J.G.) were frantically trying to, A) to stop Beth drinking and B) to try to find all Beth's hiding places for drink and all of this, while under the nose of Sarah and Beth's mother without their Mother getting any knowledge of what was going on and cutting Beth and Sarah out of her will.

The producer was so pleased with Penny's efforts and despite her being out of acting for so long, offered her the part. In fact the writers had even added an extra comic scene with Sarah guiding an inebriated Beth upstairs to her bedroom while trying desperately to avoid their Mother who kept going to and fro from guest room to bathroom and back again.

And when Penny came home and broke the news of her being offered the part, Penny and Leonard delightedly celebrated together with a movie and a meal before enjoying some very important together time in their bedroom later.

Penny became a popular member of the cast with the audience and her appearances in the comedy series gradually increased, though Penny was very careful that it should not encroach on her precious time with her husband and children, after all as she would relate in an interview later, her precious family was what enabled her to keep her feet on the ground and also enabled her to keep on an even keel.

A few weeks later, while Kay was acting a scene with another actor, Penny, who was quietly watching the scene with J.G. Happened to glance up at him and immediately felt a shiver, for J.G. Seemed to be absolutely captivated by the sight of Kay, and Penny was very much reminded of Leonard, in the way he would look at Penny, hence the shiver.

Penny zoned out and began thinking. She was so very very happy with her life right now with Leonard, and like Kay, Penny too had had a string of failed relationships before Leonard, and she knew enough about Kay by now that she was very unhappy indeed, so much so that it was almost affecting her performances in the comedy.

So later on Penny quietly tried to move things along by seeing if Kay might be interested in J.G.

"You know, I think we have a great cast here", Penny observed to Kay in a break between scenes.

"Yes, you're right", Kay agreed, although without much enthusiasm.

"And don't you think that J.G.'s kinda cute", Penny asked her.

"Hey!, you're a married woman", Kay chided.

But at the mention of J.G, Penny noticed Kay's eyes widen.

"Of course, and very happily, and I would never ever, do anything to hurt Leonard, but I was thinking more upon the lines of maybe cute for you?", Penny explained.

Kay's face took on a glimmer of hope before sliding back into the sombre look she usually wore lately.

"I can't, it's too soon", Then the truth came out, "What if he rejects me? , like my last guy, I just couldn't cope with that", Kay revealed plaintively.

Penny placed an arm around Kay's shoulders. "Oh sweetie", she said sympathetically, "You won't know till you try?", "Tell me? how would you feel if you didn't take the chance and J.G. Found someone else?", Penny asked her, somehow reminded of when Amy asked her the same question years ago.

Kay jerked her head up to look at Penny, the look on her face stricken at the thought.

But alas, "I'm sorry I just couldn't, it just hurts too much", Kay told her, her tears beginning to fall.

Penny decided to let Kay be for now, perhaps if she could speak to J.G.?

But J.G. Incredibly was even worse than Leonard, which fact Penny could hardly believe. And at the tragic sight of two people both yearning for each other, but at the same time, so afraid of taking the needed step, Penny then became quite determined to move things along herself, but how?

About halfway into the series Penny was rehearsing some lines quietly with J.G. That involved a tender moment of pathos, (as was often used in all the great comedies), between Beth and Lincoln, (J.G's character), when Beth had finally and tearfully admitted her drink problem and begged Lincoln to never give up on her after which the two characters would share a passionate kiss, when Kay knocked and entered.

Penny in a blinding flash of inspiration, asked Kay for help on how Penny should play this particular scene?.

Kay gave Penny some ideas.

"I'm sorry I don't quite understand what you mean?", Penny told Kay with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

"Here, I'll demonstrate", Kay told Penny as she placed her arms around J.G's neck and kissed him. Not without Penny noticing that the kiss lasted a heck of a lot longer than the scene demanded, and as Kay and J.G. Broke apart, Kay saw the same look of adoration for Kay on J.G's face that Leonard's face had shown for Penny.

'Finally, at last' Penny thought to herself resisting the temptation to applaud them both and squeal her delight.