A/N I still own nothing. Thank you so much to bamadude, Richard76310, SRAM, and guest for their wonderful and insightful reviews. They do keep me going.
***************September 7, 2015, 7:30 A.M. Pacific Time**************
Sheldon1 and Amy knocked on the door of Apartment 4C. Leonard5, who was used to sleeping in, had been awakened by Penny and was dressed.
Leonard was a little apprehensive about going to work and had thought of taking some sick days, but decided he would have to face it sooner or later, the other Leonards having used up his vacation time. He just hoped he remembered enough to get by for twenty-eight days without doing any damage.
"Good morning, Leonard."
"Morning, Sheldon, Amy."
Sheldon continued, "Glad to see you are ready to go."
Leonard smirked, "You can thank Penny. She got me up. I usually sleep in."
"Well, we just wanted to be sure you were going to work. We will see you there. If you have any trouble, call either of us."
"Thanks. I probably will be taking you up on that. It's been a while since I was in a lab."
Just then Penny came down the hall, "Hi, Guys."
Amy and Sheldon replied and then Amy said, "How are you doing, Penny? What are you going to do today?"
"I am going over to the stables and go for a ride."
She turned to Leonard, "I will see you tonight. Good luck."
"Thanks. Shall I bring something home for dinner?"
Sheldon spoke up, "Tonight is Pizza night. We usually spend it together."
Leonard smiled, "That sounds good. Is that okay with you, Penny?"
"It's fine."
After she finished her ride, Penny decided she didn't want to spend the whole day alone. A little surprised at what she was doing, she called and asked Leonard if they could have lunch together. He quickly said yes.
They met at a restaurant near Caltech. Once again Leonard was struck at how this Penny seemed affected by what was happening. It really hurt him to see her like this. He was surprised to realize how much he cared for her.
Penny was surprised how good she felt when she saw him come through the door and head for her. She was intrigued how he was still like her Leonard but still so different. She assumed it was because of what he was in his world.
She will still stunned about her other self being nominated for an Oscar, that her Leonard worked with her and was in show business also. She was even a little ashamed to find she envied them. She sighed, hoping it was just because she missed her Leonard. She was happy with her life with him.
"Hey, Penny."
"Hi, Leonard." She hesitated, "How is it going?"
"Better than I thought. It's actually kind of fun to be back in a lab. I didn't realize that I kind of missed it."
After they ordered and were fortified with beverages, Leonard asked, "I was going to ask, didn't you have to work today?"
"Actually, I am no longer a pharmaceutical salesman. They let me go. I just didn't care about it anymore." She looked at him, "I just miss Leonard so much."
He reached out and touched her hand, "I can't imagine how bad this has been for you."
After a few moments, he pulled his hand back, "I am curious, what were some of the other Leonard's like?"
Penny told them about the others, interrupted by their food arriving. After she finished he smiled, "That's amazing." He smirked, "You know, I think it's more shocking that Penny was married to Sheldon than that she was a prostitute."
Penny found herself laughing and realized it had been some time since she had done so, "I think you are right."
They ate in silence. When they finished, Penny hesitated, "It has been strange. I have in some way been attracted to all of them." She hurried on, "I mean as a friend. I cared about them and felt they felt the same for me."
"I know what you mean. I have felt the same. I guess whatever our lives turned out to be, we are still Penny and Leonard."
She nodded and told Leonard he should get back to work. He got up and then to both their surprises, leaned down and kissed her softly on the mouth.
That night after Sheldon and Amy left and Penny and Leonard were sitting on the couch, Leonard suddenly sat up, "I just had a thought. You know, this thing with the Parallel Universes would make a great plot for a movie. Penny and I thought of the idea before but never got it to work."
Penny watched in amazement as he rushed over to Leonard's laptop and accessing Word, began to type. She walked over and stood behind him, watching him typing furiously.
It was over an hour before he stepped away, "I really think we have something here." He looked at her, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ignore you."
Penny smiled, "It's okay. It was fascinating to see you work."
He looked at her, "Penny, did you ever think about acting?"
"I tried it for a while, but never got anywhere. I finally gave it up."
He sat for a few minutes, "Whenever I am working on something, I always liked to have Penny go over the lines with me. It lets me know how they actually sound, how they go over." He met her eyes, "When I get more down, would you read them with me?"
Penny was stunned but quickly said, "If you really think I could do it, I would love to."
"Great. At the rate I am going, I should have something ready in a few days."
Penny suddenly realized she needed to be careful. She found herself getting excited about working with him. She realized this could prove to be more dangerous than it had been with the other Leonards. He was like her Leonard but still different in away that she found attractive.
Leonard looked at her, wondering what she was thinking. He wondered if he was doing the right thing. He wanted to help her, to give her something to do, to stop her dwelling on her Leonard, but realized he needed to be careful. She was very vulnerable.
Leonard1 awoke at his usual time. He was relieved that Penny had stayed on her side of the bed. But he also noticed how one strap of her top had moved off her shoulder and one breast was exposed.
Sighing, he quickly got out of bed, careful not to disturb her. After doing his morning duties, he got dressed and making himself a cup of coffee, sat down on the couch.
He was still stunned from what had happened. Penny had won an Oscar and Sheldon and Amy won a Nobel. Why had that happened in this Universe? And how did he ever get to be a script writer? And apparently a talented one. He smirked to himself. the only creative writing he had evert tried was that stupid detective novel and all that accomplished was getting Penny pissed at him and him getting bad feelings about his mother.
Penny5 awoke and was lost for a moment. Then it all came back to her and she looked over at the other side of the bed. She then realized that she was exposing a large part of her breasts. Pulling the strap up, she looked over and saw Leonard sitting on the couch, apparently lost in thought.
Looking at the clock, she was shocked to see it was only 8:00. Then, sighing, she decided she might as well get up.
She nodded to Leonard1 as she headed for the bathroom.
When she had finished and came out dressed in sweats, she saw Leonard had a cup of coffee waiting for her. Smiling gratefully, she took a sip as she sat down beside him.
She smiled, "Good morning, we usually don't get up anywhere near this early."
"I'm sorry if I awakened you. I am used to rising pretty early."
"Don't worry about it."
She hesitated, "How are you doing? This must be pretty bewildering for you."
"It is." He smiled, "But pretty exciting, too." He paused, "I don't think I ever congratulated you on your Oscar."
"Thank you." She smiled sadly, "I really wish Leonard could have been there to see it."
They sat silently as she finished her coffee. "Well, we have some decisions to make. Leonard and I planned to go back to New York. Luckily, we really don't have anything big scheduled. We are supposed to meet with a producer in a couple weeks about a script, but we had already decided we weren't interested."
She turned to him, "Will that work? With this jumping stuff, do you need to stay in California?"
"No, it shouldn't matter. My first stop was in Omaha, Nebraska."
She smiled, "That's right, I wanted to hear about the worlds you have visited. Why don't we order some breakfast and you can tell me all about them."
From the time they ordered breakfast through when they were eating, he told her about his adventures. When he was finished, she stared at him. "Wow, that's quite a story." She thought for a minute, "It seems, that in general, you are about the same but the Pennys differ quite a bit." She smirked, "I don't know which is more shocking, that I was a prostitute or married to Sheldon." She chuckled, "I am not sure which is worse."
Leonard laughed along with her.
But then she turned serious, "It is so sweet about Sara. It makes you wonder if that will happen for you." She hesitated, "Or for Leonard and me."
Leonard nodded, "It was amazing. If I ever get home, I …"
Penny reached out and squeezed his hands. They sat that way for a time until she withdrew her hands.
Then she said, "You told me how your wife is a salesman. Why don't you tell me about how she got there." She hesitated and went on, "I admit I am curious where our lives changed."
He told her how she had moved in across the hall. How they had got together, broke up, but eventually got back together. How Sheldon met Amy and them getting married. How she had worked at the Cheesecake Factory and had quit to pursue acting. He talked about her acting misadventures and how Bernadette got her a job as a salesman.
Penny sat back, fascinated. "It is all the same until after I quit the Cheesecake Factory. Bernadette and Howard had moved away when she got an offer somewhere else."
"After Serial Apist II, we got married almost right away."
"My acting career was still going nowhere when Leonard got this crazy idea to write a mystery novel. He struggled to finish it and we had an argument about one of the characters he created but in the end he persevered. To our shock, it actually got published and even more amazing, someone wanted to make a movie out of it."
She smiled, "Then Leonard had this amazing idea. He negotiated for me to be the heroine in the movie and he would work on the script."
"Well, as the story goes, the rest was history. It turned out we were both very good at what we were doing and we have worked together ever since."
Leonard just stared at her. Finally, he said, "I actually started a similar novel too but gave up after it bugged Penny." He decided not to mention anything about his mother.
It looked like Penny was about to say something but then she apparently was thinking about something.
She sat up excited, "I just had a crazy thought. As I told you, Leonard and I once had an idea about a script dealing with Parallel Universes but just couldn't come up with a good concept." She smiled, "I think what is happening to you would be a great plot." She hesitated, "We will have to have a happy ending with you returning home."
She went on, even more animated, "I think you should try to write it."
Seeing the look on his face, "After all, our Leonard didn't know he had any talent either. Who knows, maybe we will find out you could be good at it."
"In any case, we have nothing to lose. We can work together. Leonard always had me go over lines with him. What do you say?"
Leonard was stunned. He was about to say that he couldn't do that, that it would be a waste of time, but found himself caught up in her enthusiasm.
He surprised himself when he realized he wanted to try. He also realized how much he was looking forward to working with Penny.
When he accepted, Penny was thrilled but then also realized how much she wanted to do this with him. It was like when she and her Leonard had first worked together.
***************September 13, 2015, 7:30 P.M. Pacific Time*************
Leonard5 told Penny1 he had something they could work with. He was surprised how much he had looked forward to this, to work with Penny.
For Penny, she was excited but also more than a little nervous that she would be terrible at it. She realized how much she wanted this to work.
Leonard spoke up, "Okay, I have decided to only have Stephen, that's Leonard in the story, go to two worlds; the one with Sara, now Linda, and the one where JoAnn, that's you Penny, is a prostitute. Stephen will return home after that."
"This is really more of a love story than anything else. It is all about the couples, about how their lives are affected." He smiled, "I haven't quite decided yet if they will cheat on each other but they will definitely be tempted."
They worked for a time, Penny really enjoying the experience. For his part, Leonard was quite impressed. In many ways, she was just like his Penny.
Then, they came to a much more intimate scene. It was in the world where they had Linda. They had decided they needed to sleep in the same bed.
Something that day had deeply reminded Stephen of his JoAnn, while she had realized how much she cared for this Stephen, how he had come to love her Linda.
JoAnn found herself moving over to him and when she wasn't rejected laid against him.
Penny read her line, "Stephen, I want you to know how much I appreciate what you are doing for Linda."
Leonard answered, "You don't have to. It's been wonderful to be with her," a pause, "and you."
Penny was stunned to read the next words in the script, JoAnn hesitated and took a deep breath before rising slightly and to both their shocks, gave Stephan a passionate kiss.
She looked at Leonard. Suddenly, in that moment it all came together in a rush. Her missing her Leonard, her excitement at what they were doing, the deep fear she would never see Leonard again, how she was attracted to this Leonard.
Just as Leonard was smiling, "We can skip…," she shocked them both by going to him and putting her arms around him, crushed herself to him as she pressed her lips against his, seeking his tongue with hers.
Leonard knew this was all wrong, that he needed to push her away, but he was also feeling much of what she was. Working with her like this had made him realize how much he missed Penny and how much he was enjoying what they had been doing. He wanted to help her, to make her feel better.
He returned her passion, their tongues finding each other as his hand came up to cup her breast. She moaned and tried to get closer. Finally they broke apart and after taking a deep breath, Penny began to unbutton her blouse.
It was then that they both heard the infamous three knocks accompanied by "Leonard and Penny, Leonard and Penny, Leonard and Penny."
Penny got an anguished look on her face, turned red, and managed to get out, "I am so sorry, Leonard," before running into the bedroom and closing the door behind her.
Leonard, also struggling to recover, looked after her, wondering what Leonard she was referring to. Sighing, he pulled himself together, straightened his clothes and opened the door.
"What is it, Sheldon?"
Sheldon and Amy were standing there with smiles on their faces, "We have big news. We think we may have hit on what enabled out counterparts to win a Nobel Prize."
He hesitated, "When we tell you, don't let us know either way if it is what they worked on. Agreed?"
Leonard had been hardly listening, wanting to go to Penny, but perked up. "I agree."
Amy spoke up proudly, "We call it Asymmetry."
Leonard struggled to keep his face neutral because that was the same topic.
He finally said, "Congratulations. I hope it works out."
Amy went on, "Where's Penny, we want to tell her too."
"She was a little tired and is sleeping."
Sheldon looked shocked, "It is only 8:30."
Amy broke in, "We better go, we don't want to disturb her." She smiled, "When she wakes up, let us tell her."
"Don't worry, I will let you be the ones."
Saying their goodbyes, they left.
Leonard took a deep sigh and made his way over to the bedroom door, "Penny, it's Leonard, they're gone."
"Thank you, but I want to be alone."
"I think we need to talk."
There was a long silence. Finally, Penny said in a voice so low he could barely hear her, "Okay."
He opened the door and was saddened upon seeing her. It was apparent she had been crying and she looked so miserable his heart went out to her. At the same time, he knew he really needed to be careful not to make things worse.
He carefully sat on the bed as far from her as he could, "Penny, I know you are feeling guilty about what happened." He sighed, "I am feeling the same."
Her voice breaking, she said, "If Sheldon hadn't come…."
He quickly said, "We don't know what would have happened. We don't know if we would have stopped." He sighed, "I need to believe we would have and you need to believe that too."
"I don't know what happened." She looked at him, "It was so exciting to be working with you. I hadn't realized how much I have missed acting."
She took a deep breath, "The problem is, I think I envy you and your Penny and I just got caught up in what we were doing." She began to cry again, "God, I am such an awful person. I was not only going to cheat on Leonard, but I am also saying I wasn't happy with our life."
Leonard looked at her in shock, "You can't think that way, Penny. You are being way too hard on yourself. You have been torn away from the man you love due to nothing either of you did. You don't know if you will ever see him again."
He paused, "Doing this with me enabled you for a time to finally maybe forget that for a moment, to get caught up in it. I think it is natural to maybe be a little envious of us but that doesn't mean anything about you and your Leonard or your life. I know you love him as much as I love my Penny. We are both very vulnerable. But we know now what can happen."
He hesitated, "I know this probably isn't the time to say this, but I was really impressed with how you were doing. When your Leonard returns, I think you should maybe give acting another shot."
"Penny, please don't let this eat you up. No one has ever gone through what you have. Not only losing your Leonard but having to be with men that cannot help but elicit some feelings in you. After all, we are all Leonard."
"I do care for you, Penny, and I let that cause me to make a big mistake, but that is all it was, a mistake. It doesn't mean that you love Leonard any less."
He sighed, "If you want me to go to a hotel…?"
Penny had listened quietly to all he had said. She realized she didn't want him to go. She didn't want to be alone. She looked up at him, "Thank you. No, I don't want you to go to a hotel. I would miss you."
She was quiet for a while, "The strange thing is, I am ashamed I don't feel as guilty as I probably should. I am so lonely and miss him so much. It is that love that made me respond to you. It is all so confusing. After all, you are all Leonard. Tonight, it all just seemed to hit me at once. The joy of what we were doing, my missing Leonard, the fact that I do care for you…"
She sighed, "I think I can get some sleep now."
He nodded, "I think I will go for a walk."
She nodded understandingly, "Good night, I will see you in the morning."
As he said good night and turned to go, she said, "I would like to keep working on the script if you want to."
He smiled, "I would like that."