A/N This note will be much shorter. First off, it was bfm10 who is my copy reader. Evidently, there is a bfm here, so they had to change their normal user name. And, due to a autocorrect My comment should have read, "…without them, I would not be as far along as I am." This is in reference to the help Hokie3457, TBBT78, bfm10 have provided me in my writing.
BTW, as you can see, update on Monday could be update Sunday night.
Chapter 1
Apt 4A, Pasadena, 5:30 PM, Friday 06 January, 2012
Leonard Hofstadter, PhD flipped though his papers, looking at the equations. There had to be a way to combine the two. He wanted to have this done before the spring semester started, but was finding he was running into one of the familiar problems of General Relativity and Quantum Field Theory. Their incompatible at small enough distances or high enough energies.
Maybe Sheldon would see a way. Then Leonard thought about last time he asked Sheldon for help, he hadn't heard the end of that until Sheldon had moved on to complaining about Penny again. Besides, Sheldon was working on String Theory, not the Standard Model. Maybe he should ask Leslie or maybe Kripke…
Suddenly the door flew open, with Penny almost running to him. "Leonard! Leonard! Leonard!" she said excitedly, "I got an audition…Tuesday…next week… major part…" She stopped, trying to take a breath.
Leonard grinned at her, "Slow down Penny, come on over to the couch," He gently guided her, "You want a glass of wine?"
Penny nodded, and Leonard went to the kitchen, opened a bottle, grabbed two glasses and took them to the couch. He poured two glasses, put the bottle on the coffee table, and handed one glass to Penny. "Now," he said, "tell me all about it, slowly."
Penny took a drink, then looking at Leonard with a big smile, started speaking, "It's so great Leonard. I have an audition for a series pilot. It's a brand new show."
"When is the audition?" asked Leonard.
"It's next Tuesday," said Penny. "Then, if I do well, there will be callbacks. After that, for those who get to move on, there will be meetings with the producers, meetings with the network execs, then the final decision. I'll find out by the end of this month if I got the part."
"They are supposed to shoot the pilot in the middle of February, then show it around to the networks. If I get the part, I should hear sometime, in March, about whether the network likes it and puts it on the fall schedule. If so, we start shooting the shows in August and I'll be on your TV in September."
Without thinking, Leonard said, "That's if you get the part."
Penny looked at him, her eyes flashing, "Yes, IF I get the part. Thanks for the confidence in me."
"You…you…know what I mean," Leonard stammered defensively. "I think you can get the part, but there still is a chance you won't." He leaned over and kissed her. "What's the show about?"
She smiled, "I don't know. I don't even have the lines we're going to use for the audition, and I don't know who is supposed to be in it. I'll find out most of that next week, so ask me then. What are we doing for dinner?"
"Not sure," said Leonard. "I haven't seen Sheldon, so why don't we just head for that new Italian restaurant over on East Colorado?"
"Sounds good to me," said Penny. She looked at all the symbols scattered throughout, all his papers, "Whatcha doing?"
"I'm trying to see if I can get these two equations to combine," he said, pointing to both of them. "It's driving me, crazy. Grrrrrrrr," he said making fists in with both hands. He took a deep breath, "I'm trying to work on some problems in Quantum Field Theory, in highly curved spacetime, but that requires General Relativity and the tensors don't match…"
"Blah, blah, blah," said Penny playfully, "physics stuff, blah, blah, blah. You know I don't understand that stuff Leonard. You could have just said some physics and it would have satisfied me."
Leonard looked disappointed, but chuckled, "Sometimes I forget, Penny. I want to explain this, but I get all excited and forget you aren't a physicist."
She reached over, put her arms around his neck and kissed him. "Maybe not, but I do understand how to relieve that tension you have. How about we head over to my apartment, so we're not interrupted if Sheldon comes back, and I can help you 'relax' a bit before dinner."
"I thought we were staying at your place tonight," said Leonard. "You said we were going to…er… 'relax' when we went to bed."
"Why can't we 'relax' now, and then later tonight?" said Penny with a wolfish grin.
Before Leonard could answer, Penny's lips landed on his, making her question rhetorical. After a few seconds, Penny stood, and grabbing Leonard's hand, led him over to 4B.
Apr 4A, 6:00 PM, Tuesday, January 10th, 2012
Leonard was working on the equations. He had given up trying to get them to combine, and now was working on how to design a test for his ideas, but was still struggling. First I have to figure out those equations, then I need a lot more power, he thought. I might have to see if I could get time at CERN, with the Large Hadron Collider. That's not likely, so I'd have to see about maybe getting the petawatt laser. He sighed and went back to his papers.Or, just see if I can tease out the answers using a few more calculations and a lower power laser.
The door flew open, Penny ran right to him and enveloped him in a hug. Leonard was taken by surprise, but returned it. They held on to each other for a half a minute and Penny finally pulled away. She had a big grin on her face, Leonard just looked at her and said, "What's up?"
"Oh, Leonard," said Penny, "I got a callback! They want me to read with the actual stars of the show. We'll be doing several scenes together. Oh, Leonard, this is what I've been waiting for, I could be on TV!" She wrapped him in another hug.
After breaking the hug, Leonard smiled at her excitement. "Really, this is so great for you. So, who are the stars?"
"Jeanie Corbett," said Penny.
Leonard had no idea who this was, and it must have shown in his face.
"You know," said Penny, "she was in 'Sex in the City', as Carrie's boss, who kept hounding her to do that article."
Leonard thought back. He only had a very limited knowledge of 'Sex in the City' but he did have a vague idea of who she was and so simply said, "I guess."
"She was also in the movie we watched on HBO a couple of weeks ago," said Penny. "You know, Patty, the woman who kept chasing beach bum type guys, until she realized her shy neighbor was the one that helped her all the time. You said she reminded you of me."
"Oh yeah," said Leonard nodding his head, "ignoring the good guy for all the bad guys."
Penny scowled at him. "Some of them were nice."
"Sure," said Leonard, "like the one that kept hitting on the waitress, in front of Patty? You know, like Kurt. Or that one that was bragging to his friends, about their sex life, you know, like Mike?"
"Shut up," said Penny, looking down. "Anyway, now you know who she is. The other star is Dave Collura. He was the head of that government section in that superhero movie we saw last month."
Leonard instantly knew who this was and smiled, "I get to meet Capt. Avery?"
"No, Leonard," said Penny, "you don't, not yet anyway. If I get the part, you will probably meet him."
Leonard was still smiling, "Well, OK, that seems fair. What else do you know?"
"Well, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the show itself is supposed to be about something in New York. But they are saying it will be shot here, on sets, and just use exterior shots, and shots on the back lot."
"What are exterior shots?" Asked Leonard.
"Those are where they send a camera crew out in New York, and take some video of places around the city. They probably already have a bunch of those clips in their film library, so it won't cost them all that much. If they have to have one they don't have, they send one of the New York camera units out to get the clips they need."
"So, what is the show about?"
"I don't know yet," said Penny. "I was just given where it was going to be shot, where it was based and told us who the two stars were going to be. They said they would send us the scripts by the end of the week, then we'll read against the two stars and against the other guy."
"How many other women are in line for the role?" Asked Leonard.
"There were four of us that were told today that we would be coming back," said Penny. "So my guess would be four." She smiled at Leonard.
"But, you don't know what the show is about?"
"Nope, but I may know by the end of the week."
Leonard chuckled, "Well then, I guess I can get back to work, now, without worrying about interfering with your audition," said Leonard.
Penny stuck her tongue out at Leonard. "It's a callback. What about dinner?"
"Let's see, Sheldon is going somewhere with Amy tonight, so where do you want to go?"
"I don't know," said Penny. "You go back to work, I'll think about it while I get a shower, give me an hour or so."
"That sounds good," said Leonard with a smile, "see you then."
"OK," said Penny, kissing him on the cheek. "I'll see you in an hour." Penny walked to the door and left.
Apt 4A, 7:00 PM, Friday 13 January 2012
The whole gang was there for Friday night dinner. Howard seated on an end table near the door, Bernadette on the couch next to him. Amy was in the center of the couch, with Sheldon next to her in his "spot". Leonard was in his chair, Penny was sitting next to him in his desk chair, with Raj on the floor, near Howard. Penny had just told everyone about her audition Tuesday and explained all she said she knew about the show.
"Well, Penny, what is the show about?" asked Bernadette.
"I don't know."
"Is it a big part?" asked Amy.
"I don't know."
Sheldon chimed in, "Penny, you must know. You said you have the script, hence you have all the information there, so you must know…"
"OK," said Penny. "Let me go through this for you again. I told you there are two stars, I know who they are. I know the show is set in New York. The auditions, I think, are for the secondary stars. There are four women up for the role I'm up for. I don't have the entire script, just the little pieces I need for my part. I do know some things about the show, but, and this may help you understand, I can't tell you."
"Why not?" Asked Raj.
"I had to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement," said Penny. "This is a project that is in development. There was a press release with some of the stuff in Variety and The Hollywood Reporter a month or so ago, and the creators shut down anything else, as they don't want to let anything else out."
"Come on, Bestie, you can tell us," Amy pleaded, "we won't say anything."
"No," said Penny sharply. "This is a big chance for me and I'm not risking it by violating the NDA. They told us if something gets leaked, and they find out who did it, that person is out. They won't get the part or if they have it, they will get fired. So, I've told you what I can." You'll just have to wait until I find out some more. So leave it, got it?"
Amy just nodded her head. Bernadette spoke up, "Can you tell us if it's a big part or a small part?"
"Well," thought Penny, "Variety says it's a four person main cast. So, if that's right, I would think a pretty big part. I know there are two stars, and I guess I would be a co-star, which means I could be on every week. But, see, that's something I don't know.
"So, I guess we just have to wait," said Howard.
"Yep," said Penny. Seeing their downcast faces, she added, "You know how gabby I am, so you know this is killing me. I'm really sorry guys, but this may be my big break, my chance at having a good career, instead of just commercials, shows above a bowling alley, or shows in acting classes. I don't want to mess that up, but I will say I may be able to tell you more, after the call back next week."
"All right," said Sheldon. "New topic, why are we talking about Penny's failed acting career? Instead of taking about the new paper I put out?"
Penny looked at Sheldon in frustration, "How about this new topic Sheldon. When will Sheldon realize I can use the same technique on him that I used on Todd Zarneki, to get his silly game stuff back? Just like his sister Missy taught me."
Sheldon crossed his legs, and said, "Perhaps we can talk about something else." Everyone else laughed and started talking with each other
Leonard leaned over and whispered, "You told me about some things, doesn't that violate the NDA?"
Penny smiled at Leonard and whispered back, "No, telling you is safer than them telling me."
Leonard smiled and nodded.
Apt 4A, 5 PM Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Leonard had taken the afternoon off. He really wanted to be home when Penny returned from her callback. He really didn't see the difference, but Penny made sure he knew it was a callback, not another audition. I guess I better learn the vernacular of show business.
He had last heard from Penny at around three. She had texted him several times throughout the day. Her first texts was just before 11:00 and she explained how they were now on a ten minute break and she would be going first, after the break. That the stars had talked to them and tried to calm them down.
He got a couple of texts at 1:30 PM, telling him she only had a few minutes, as they were going to have lunch and after lunch, she was going to have to meet some people.
At 2:00, she texted him that lunch was almost over and she was going in to talk with the producers, and if she passed that, she would go on to talk to the network people.
At 3, he got the last text from Penny, telling him she was done with the producers and was just waiting for everyone else to get done. She signed her last text with a xoxoxo.
While waiting, Leonard had been looking up some physics papers online at ArXiv, trying to get a better idea for his experiments, when he found two from Oxford. Looking at them, he understood that they weren't applicable to his current problems. But, after a bit more reading, he realized they could be used as a basis for a whole different experiment, one he might be able to use for his problems.
He sent an email to the main author of the paper, a Dr Geoff Whatney asking if he had thought about making modifications to the experiments, altering what the experiments could possibly be detecting. He also asked about whether or not Dr Whatney had thought about the possibility of reflections off of individual particles.
After hitting send, he decided he needed some tea, so he went to the kitchen, prepared some, and brought it to his desk. He had just started looking over the papers again, when he heard Penny's door close.
Surprised, because she hadn't texted him she was done or had come to 4A, he walked over to Penny's and opened the door. Penny was sitting on her couch, looking at the TV, although it wasn't on. Leonard entered, closed the door and walked over to the couch and sat down next to Penny. She didn't move.
Leonard reached over and touched her arm, "Penny, is there anything wrong?"
Penny turned her head and looked at Leonard with a blank stare. She shook her head.
"Do you want some wine?" he asked.
She nodded and Leonard got up, went to the fridge, grabbed an open bottle and poured two glasses. He brought them back to the couch, giving Penny one. She drained the glass in one drink, then put the glass on the coffee table.
Leonard looked sadly at Penny and put his arm around her, "I'm sorry, I guess you didn't get the part."
Penny turned to look at Leonard, still with a blank look. In what Leonard thought was a shocked voice she said, "No, Leonard, I got the part. If it gets picked up, I'm going to be on television in a weekly series in the fall."