A/N Thanks so much to Warriorcreed, SRAM, and CTR69 for your thoughtful and insightful reviews. They mean a lot to me.
This chapter got a little long but didn't seem to have a good place to stop.
I still own nothing.
When Penny returned to her apartment, she sat down and thought over what had happened. She realized she had a lot to do the next day.
She had to go to the bank, get some money and order some checks.
She then had to apply for the job at the Cheesecake Factory. She wasn't sure how she was going to feel about working there if she did get the job, but she was hardly in a position to be choosy. She could not count on the money in the bank. She could see it would not last long. Once she had a job, she would be freer to figure out what she wanted to do.
Then she had to go car shopping with Leonard. She was a little worried about driving for the first time, but when she had trained on the simulator, it had not seemed too difficult.
She also needed to figure out what to do with the communicator. The Council was paranoid about having advance technology fall into the hands of the natives.
That was why she was not given any advance gadgetry. And even though ships would be cloaked, they would not risk putting any kind of space craft around the Earth.
This paranoia extended to the handling of the communicator. They had a great fear that if the agent were killed, the communicator would be discovered. Since the apartment would be one place that would be checked out if something did happen to her, she needed to find a place to store it.
But she did have to have somewhat easy access to it. If she didn't push a certain spot on the communicator every month, it would self-destruct. You also had to push that spot every time you wanted to use it or the same thing would happen.
Deciding she would just have to hope nothing happened to her right away, she hid it in the back of the closet for the time being.
She sat back down, wondering if there was anything else she needed to do.
Not thinking of anything, she wondered how she should proceed with trying to find out what happened to Randall Smith.
She decided to try the internet first. When she entered Randall Smith, there were, as she expected, and overwhelmingly number of responses. She smiled ruefully, the infiltration team picked generic last names as a further attempt to never make the agent stand out, but it was definitely a drawback when trying to find out what had happened to him.
She then tried Randall Smith obituaries. This helped a little and she did look through a great many of them. But none fit the life they had created for him.
Seeing the time, and deciding she this wasn't working, she got ready for bed, thinking she had a long day ahead of her.
The next morning, she decided she could use some exercise and walked the two miles to the bank. It was difficult for her to resist stretching out and running. She realized that she would have to be careful not to show what she was capable of.
At the bank, she withdrew fifty dollars and ordered checks, using her new signature for the first time.
Getting directions from someone at the bank, she set out for the Cheesecake Factory. As she walked, she was confronted with three young men who apparently had decided to give her a hard time. They brushed up against her, making snide remarks about her anatomy and what they would like to do to her. She sensed that they did not want to hurt her, but she also did not appreciate their actions. She had to fight the temptation to teach them a lesson. Something occurred to her. She realized that she could be faced with a more serious situation where she was in danger or that someone else was threatened. Could she refrain from not using her strength or speed to help? She sighed, it was becoming more and more apparent it was going to be difficult to keep her cover.
For now, she just ignored them and jogged away, relieved when they didn't follow her.
Arriving at the restaurant, she asked the lady at the till who she needed to talk to about the job. She was told to wait there and soon a young man came out and greeted her. Once again she endured him looking her over. He introduced himself as Mike Sanders and said he was the manager. He led her to a small office.
She was soon filling out an application form. When she presented it to him, he quickly looked it over. When he finished, he looked up at her, "Well, Ms. Hansen, I must admit I am not overly impressed with your credentials. I would have hoped for some work experience."
He smiled, "However, quite frankly, I am not in the mood to be too selective. I really need a new waitress." He smirked, "I would probably have a mutiny from the other waitresses if they found I turned anyone down."
He then went over the hours and the pay. He talked a little of the duties but said he would leave most of that to one of the other waitresses who would work with her for a short time.
Then hearing her agree she wanted to go to work, he asked when she could start.
She said she had something planned for that afternoon. He then told her to come in at 9:00 the next morning.
She thanked him and wondering what she was getting into, left.
On her way back to the apartment, she passed a small park. She found herself walking into it and sitting on a bench. As she sat there, she realized she should arrange to spend some time out of the city.
As she basked in the sunshine, her thoughts turned back to her home planet. Unlike most of Earth, Celara was not a hospitable place to live. It was extremely hot in the summer and freezing cold in the winter. Her ancestors had struggled daily to survive. Until modern technology, very little grew on Celara. They had also shared the planet with species that considered Celarians a source of food.
It was that history that led Celarians to live on very little food. And although life was very difficult, it also led Celarians to treasure every life. From the moment of birth, it was a continuous struggle to survive.
All this was compounded by the fact that female Celarians were not overly fertile. Each birth was a huge event.
Those circumstances also led to ancient Celarians being highly sexually active. Although that had changed somewhat as life had improved and social mores had led to marriage and families, Celarians still contained a strong sexual drive.
Penny smiled ruefully. As for her, as she had realized when she had intercourse with Leonard, it had been some time for her. She had always expected to be married to Kurt. They had been together for a long time. They had decided to wait until they each completed their studies before getting married and having a family.
Then, Kurt had stunned her when he had told her he had met someone else. It had taken her some time to recover. It was his actions that had led her to decide to leave Celara and work for the Republic.
In the four years since he had cheated on her, she had served on over twenty planets. She had been becoming less and less enamored with her work and had been planning to return to Celara when the opportunity came for her to go to Earth.
During the time she worked on other planets, she had not really considered interspecies sex. It was not that she felt superior or that it was beneath her, she just was not attracted to any of them.
She thought back to the time with Sheldon and Leonard. Although it was her job, she realized she had been attracted to them. She also remembered how it had been with Leonard.
She sighed, it seemed there was another area she would have to be careful about. She could not afford to become involved with anyone. It could prevent them from finding a relationship with someone on Earth.
On the other hand, she could consider what the Humans called 'One-night stands.'
Shaking her head, she stood up and headed back toward the apartment.
Leonard called her about noon and asked if she wanted to go out to lunch before heading out to the car dealership.
Knowing she was not ready to eat something, she told him she had eaten after leaving the Cheesecake Factory. She could tell he was disappointed but then asked how it had gone.
She had to smile at how pleased he was when she told him she got the job. He then said he would grab something to eat and meet her at one.
Penny had decided to dress more conservatively for the afternoon. She decided she wanted to look more sensible. She did have to admit though, her ass and legs looked great in jeans.
Leonard arrived right at one. When she opened the door, she had to smile as he saw her. He really was adorable.
"Penny, before we go, I wanted to go over some things."
"Okay, come on in."
When they were seated on the couch, Leonard wondered if he was making a mistake. He worried she might think he was being intrusive.
"Penny, I took the liberty to sit down and figure out a little about your financial situation."
Penny was surprised and at first maybe a little angry. But then decided to hear what he had to say.
Leonard hurried on, "I know what you are paying for rent and assuming that you would get the job, I estimated what your wages and tips will be at the restaurant."
"Based on that, I figured out what about you could afford for a monthly payment for a car."
Before she could say something, he continued, "Based on that amount, this is the price range I think we should look at for the car."
Penny had to admit she was impressed. "It appears I was right to ask your help. None of that would have occurred to me."
She smiled to see him relax a little. He went on, "Now, one thing they are going to ask is if you have any money you can pay up front. It would probably be expected to be somewhere around $500 to a $1000. I know you just moved her and are short of cash, but I just wanted to give you a heads up."
Penny thought about what he was saying. She smirked again, it appeared here was something else she would have to deal with, wondering if she had enough money. She knew she did not want to dig into her $10,000. She could foresee the need to keep that in reserve.
She finally said, "I don't know. That's a lot of money."
Leonard nodded. Then after thinking a moment, "How about a credit card? That way you could spread out paying it back."
"I have one card. It has a balance of $2000."
"Okay. Let's just keep that in mind. Are you ready to go?"
She smiled, "I guess." She looked at him, "I really appreciate you helping me with this."
He blushed a little, "No problem, I am glad to help."
As they headed for the dealership, Penny began to think again about the fact that if they did find a car, she was going to have to drive it. She spent the time watching Leonard drive trying to learn as much as she could.
When they arrived at the dealership, Leonard asked for a specific salesman John Sanders. He came out and greeted Leonard enthusiastically.
When Leonard introduced Penny and told John she was the one that needed a car, she sighed as she saw his eyes widen as he looked her over. But then she sensed something else, that he seemed to be surprised that she was with Leonard. She saw him look back at Leonard and then at her again. She couldn't avoid the impression that he would not expect someone that looked like her would be with him.
Why would he think that way? Deciding she was probably just imagining things, she turned her attention back to the conversation.
John was speaking, "Well, let's get her in a car. What are we looking for?"
Leonard answered, "We're looking for a good used car." He hesitated and gave him the price range he had calculated.
John frowned, "That make it a little tougher." He thought for a moment, "It is a shame, because I have what I consider a great bargain. For someone that has been a great customer like you, Leonard, I can make you a great deal. Unfortunately, it's a little above your range. Why don't I show it to you?"
Leonard considered what he was saying. He really felt he had a good relationship with John who had treated him well in the past. He figured it was worth a look. He did want to get Penny a good car.
He shrugged, "I guess it won't hurt to look at it. What do you think, Penny?"
Penny was caught off guard being brought into the conversation. She had been watching with interest, trying to absorb as much as she could. She managed to get out, "Whatever you think, Leonard."
John led them to a red Volkswagen, "This is it. Has only had one owner and less than 20,000 miles."
As he looked it over, Leonard had to admit he was impressed. He smirked to himself when he found himself thinking the car seemed to be right for Penny.
Penny was stunned to find that she actually had a reaction to the car. She had just planned to let Leonard do all the work, assuming it would make no difference to her what she ended up with. But she found she liked the car!
When Leonard asked her opinion, she could not hide her interest.
John smiled to himself. It looked like he had been right about them. He still was stunned though to see such a beautiful woman with Leonard. He wondered what their relationship was.
He quickly said, "Would you like to take it for a test drive?"
Penny was caught off guard. Did that mean what she thought it did? She wasn't sure she wanted to do her first driving with someone else in the car. She was nervous enough about driving it off on her own.
Leonard turned to her, "How about it, Penny? Do you want to try it out?"
Penny thought fast, "Okay." She paused, "But I would rather you drove. I would like your opinion."
Both John and Leonard were surprised but Leonard was happy to see that she trusted him, "I guess I could do that."
John said, "Great. Let me go get the keys and I'll be right back."
Leonard spoke first, "Well, Penny. Do you like it?"
"I do, Leonard." She hesitated and reached out and touched his arm, "I really appreciate you helping me."
Leonard felt himself grow a little warm, "I am glad to help." Leonard decided then and there if the test drive went well, he was going to get this car for her whatever it took.
When John returned with the keys, he had Penny and Leonard sit in the front and he sat in the back.
Penny watched intently at everything Leonard was doing and listened carefully as John talked about the various components of the car.
She was gratified when Leonard not only drove around the city but took it out onto a freeway. She found she was looking forward to trying it herself.
When they returned to the lot and had gotten out, John said, "Well, what do you think? Can we get you into this car today?"
Leonard had been impressed driving it, but reality was setting back in. He had a feeling that it was going to be too expensive for Penny.
"It handles really well. But it is out of our price range."
John smiled, "Let's go back to the office. I am sure we can make this work."
"Okay, you go ahead. I want to talk to Penny and we'll join you."
John nodded and headed off.
Leonard looked at Penny, "I really do like this car, Penny, but I am not sure you can afford it."
Penny realized what he was saying. She had to smirk to herself, she was quickly learning that managing her money was going to be a part of her life, something that had not really been a consideration before.
She also realized she was disappointed.
Leonard went on, "How about you, Penny, what do you think of it?"
Penny was surprised at how much she did want to own it, "I do like it, but if I can't afford it…"
"If you like it, let's at least listen to what John can come up with. He has been willing to work with me in the past."
For more than an hour, Penny sat and watched in amazement and a little amusement as Leonard and John went through something like a ritual. Once John had gathered all the information on Penny, including her credit history and her place of employment, he had made an offer. Leonard had immediately rejected it, saying it was way too high. John then left to 'talk to his manager' and returned saying maybe they could do something if Penny could put something down.
Leonard said they could probably find $500. Again John left but returned with a new offer that Leonard again said was too high. Then they talked about leasing and various lengths of the lease.
Finally, John said, "That's it, Leonard, that's the best I can do."
Penny had finally caught up on what was going on and had made the same calculations as Leonard had. It would be very difficult for her between this payment and her rent. She did smile to herself, knowing her food bill would be less than he figured but knew she couldn't say she only ate every three days.
She was about to tell Leonard how much she appreciated what he had done but they needed to look for something else when he surprised both her and John.
Leonard had sat back. He couldn't let it end like this. There must be something he could do. He wanted to offer to help her out with money but knew he couldn't do that. It would be insulting to her.
Then it hit him. He supposed she could also be offended by what he was thinking but it actually showed his trust in her.
"How about if I cosign the lease? Could we get the payments down then?" John was surprised but then left again.
Penny found herself torn by what was happening. She was wondering how she should feel about this. While she was grateful to Leonard for willing to do this, she had a feeling there could be something wrong about it.
She finally said, "Are you sure you should be doing this? You hardly know me." She wanted to ask why he was doing it but was not sure she wanted to hear the answer and this was not the place to ask it.
Before Leonard could answer, John returned and interrupted them with a smile on his face. When he gave them the new offer, Leonard and Penny realized it fit the parameters they had set.
Deciding she would talk to Leonard later, she went ahead with the deal.
She soon found herself shaking John's hand. She and Leonard had to wait for a while as John had the car washed and put in a full tank of gas.
But then the moment had come. Leonard told her he had to run by the University and would meet her back at the apartment later.
As he drove off, she nervously got in HER car and taking a deep breath started it up. Then deciding there was no reason to wait, put the car in gear and carefully drove the car off the lot.
