A/N OK, here is Thursday's update, so Neil has something to read on his flight. The next will probably be on Tuesday.

Chapter 8

Apt 4A, 7:00 PM, Wednesday, Feb 15th, 2012

Everything was laid out on the coffee table, Leonard sitting in his chair, Penny in his office chair. Sheldon, Amy and Bernadette on the couch, with Howard on the end table next to Bernadette and Raj on the floor. There were a couple of pizzas, a couple of different kinds of pasta, a bowl of salad and bread.

There was small talk and talk about work, but Amy and Bernadette were eager to hear about Penny's week so far, so they steered the conversation by asking Penny questions about how her week was going. Penny told the group about the various things that happened so far, her struggles, the help she received, fittings, trying to remember everything that had happened.

But, what Penny really wanted to tell them was what was coming up on Friday, so she spoke up, "OK, what is everyone doing on Friday night?"

No one said anything, so Penny spoke up again, "Come on, what are all of you doing?"

Howard said, "I'm sorry Penny, but I was thinking. I was trying to remember if I had a telephone conference this Friday, but it's tomorrow. If it was next week I would be in Houston for some training and for survival training.

"Oh, sorry," said Penny. "Bernadette?"

"If Howard is free, I'm free. If he's not free, I'm still free."

"Cool, How about you Raj?"

"I'm free," said Raj. "I'm always free, I don't have anyone to worry about."

"OK, I've got Bernadette, one person trying to survive, and one sad person," said Penny. "Amy? Sheldon?"

"We're not doing anything," said Amy. "Date night is tomorrow."

Penny looked around at each of them. "How would you like to attend the taping of my show?"

There was a jumble of "really"s, "yes"s, and "That's great". They all looked excited, and Penny was smiling, until she heard, "Oh dear, why would we want to do that?"

Everyone turned to look at Sheldon. "I mean, Penny can't even remember my order at The Cheesecake Factory, so why would I want to watch her forget her lines on a television show?"

"Sheldon," said Amy, winking at Penny, "Penny is your friend, this is a big thing for her, you're going."

"No," said Penny, "if he doesn't want to go, I don't want him there."

"See," said Sheldon, "she doesn't want me, so I don't have to go."

"Penny," said Amy, "We'll both be there. Don't worry."

Penny winked at Amy, "What I'm getting all of you are what's called VIP tickets. There really aren't any tickets, you just go to the guard to where I tell you to go, and tell that person your name, you'll have to show an ID, and they will bring you to the studio."

"After the show, you can come down and I can show you around the set, and possibly introduce you to a couple of the stars. The guys know David from that superhero movie last month, and Amy and Bernadette will know Jeanie from 'Sex in the City'."

Everyone but Sheldon was nodding, taking turns thanking Penny and telling her it sounded exciting. Bernadette said, "Will Leonard be able to show us where we have to meet?"

"No," said Penny, turning to Leonard with a smile, "Leonard will be spending the whole day with me. When I have to work, he can stay in my dressing room, and sometimes down on the stage floor when I am working." She turned back to the group, "It's not hard to find, I can show you all on my computer, the guard at the gate can show you where you'll have to go."

The women went into the kitchen while the guys stayed in the living room, talking about comic books and a couple of the movies based on those. Amy and Bernadette pressed Penny for more details of how things were going and the various things she had to do, working on a TV show.

It was a couple more hours and then everyone pitched in to clean up and by 9:30 everyone was saying their goodbyes and leaving. Leonard and Penny were the last to leave and told Sheldon goodnight, and headed over to 4B.

Penny grabbed Leonard and kissed him. After some time, Leonard pulled back and said, "I thought you wanted to go over your script?"

Penny smiled at him, "I have other plans for tonight. I can get up and have breakfast with you, then go over the script when you leave for work."

Leonard smiled, "Then lets shut the lights off in here and head to the bedroom."

Penny was still smiling as she said, "You're a mind reader Hofstadter". She walked over to turn out the light in the kitchen, while Leonard turned to flip the switch to turn off the light in the living room. They both headed to the bedroom. Twenty minutes later, in his bedroom, Sheldon was grumbling and reaching over to get his noise cancelling headsets.

Apt 4B, 7:30 AM, Thursday, Feb 16th, 2012

Penny was sipping her coffee at the table, reading over her script, when Leonard came out of the bedroom. He had his hoodie on, carrying his computer bag. He picked up his computer off of the table, and put it in the bag. He leaned over and kissed Penny, "I'll see you later. I'll be ready to head to dinner, whenever you get home."

She smiled, "OK, where are we going?"

"There's an Indian place over by The Cheesecake Factory called The All India Cafe," said Leonard. "I found it last year. Since we don't get Indian food anymore, because of Raj, I thought I'd take you there."

"Oh, that sounds good," a thought struck Penny, "near my work? Big windows, where you can see in to where people are eating? Their food is great, but it's very spicy?"

"Yeah," said Leonard, "I was there with…" He paused and got a worried look on his face, "Uh oh."

"Yeah, Uh oh, describes it very well, Hofstadter," said Penny that wolfish grin she got when she knew she had Leonard trapped. "And I know who you were there with, I interrupted that date, remember?"

"Uh, yeah. Ahhhhhh, maybe I'll find another place for tonight," said Leonard.

"That's a good call, Leonard," said Penny.

"OK, I'll see you then," he said, quickly turning to head for the door.

"Calm down, sweetie," said Penny with a chuckle, "it's OK."

"Er, ah, well, then, good luck today."

"I hope I don't need luck," said Penny. "That's why I'm studying the script. See you tonight."

Leonard walked out and closed the door, relieved Penny had let it go. Penny was still chuckling at the look on his face, after he left. She looked at the clock and figured she had another hour to study. She wanted to get her shower and leave by 9 AM. That way she would get there about 9:30 and that would give her time to get some coffee and study some more. She set the timer on her phone for an hour, and went back to looking at her script.

Stage 25, 9:35 AM, Thursday, Feb 16th, 2012

Penny was sitting in her directors chair, sipping her coffee, looking at her script. She felt someone touch her arm, and when she looked up, Jeanie said, "Hi".

Penny smiled and said, "Hi, Jeanie, how you doing."

"Fair to middlin'," said Jeanie.

"What?"

"I said fair to middlin' said Jeanie with a smile.

"I don't get it."

Jeanie chuckled, "I like to use it because it confuses people, as most don't know what it means. It used to be used as a grade of cotton, but now, I use it to let people know I'm not doing good, but I'm not doing bad, I'm doing fair to middlin'."

"Oh, OK," said Penny, the puzzlement still in her voice was obvious.

"So," said Jeanie, "you ready to shoot your first scenes this afternoon?"

"Yeah, but I'm not sure which ones."

"Here let me help you figure it out," said Jeanie. "You know that scene we have with our hair up?"

"Yeah."

"Look at the other scenes," said Jeanie, "We also have a scene with a dog. Those can be hard to tape with an audience, cause you can't be sure how the dog will react with an audience. So, we will probably tape all the dog scenes, Dave and I have a scene with the dog also, as do Dave and Dana, and the hair up scene."

"Why the hair up scene?"

"Because, if we do that scene today," said Jeanie, "We won't have to have our hair done quickly tomorrow. See, today they don't have to film in order. So, I can do the dog scenes, one with you, one with Dave. Then the guys can do their scene with the dog. "

"While they are doing their scene, we can go have them put up our hair, then we do the hair up scene. Tomorrow, we'll be able to get through the entire day without a hair change. Oh, they'll touch it up now and then, but we won't have to take all that time to put up our hair, then take more time taking it down."

"Ahhhhhh, I get it," said Penny. "That makes sense."

Just then, the production manager came up to the both of them. "Hi Jeanie, Hi Penny, here, I have script changes for each of you." She handed quite a few pages to each of them. "They are going to start with the guys, so you'll have some time, but there are a lot of changes."

Penny counted the changes and she had twelve new pages. Jeanie though, had nineteen. Penn saw Jeanie was already taking her script apart, to put the new pages in, so Penny, remembering how Jeanie showed her to do it, followed her example, and started taking her script apart.

They had just finished putting their scripts back together, when Tina, Kelli, Jim, and the director came up.

"OK, everyone," said Jim, "if this was a regular production week, this morning would be a quick run through. We'd spend some time to work those scenes with new pages, to set the blocking. Then we would do a complete run though, with costumes, and props, for the network censors."

"Then we would break for lunch, and right after lunch we would start in on those scenes we would need to pre-tape. As this is not a normal production week, for example we don't have to do a complete run though for the censors, we'll work the new scenes three or four times, then do a quick run through. We'll break for lunch, and after lunch, we'll start in with the pre-tape scenes."

"We don't have to rush, so there will be time for you all to grab something to eat, before we start the pre-taped scenes. We only have four scenes, Jeanie has two with the dog, one with Penny, one with Dave. Then there is the scene with Dave, Dana, and the dog. While were shooting that, Jeanie and Penny can get their hair put up, and then we can shoot the final scene between Jeanie and Penny." Jeanie looked at Penny smiling, Penny looked at her and just mouthed the word "Wow".

"So, we'll start working the new scenes in about 15 minutes. So grab some coffee, or study your scripts, or whatever you need to do to get ready and we'll start with the guys in their apartment, see you back here in about 15."

Penny sat in her director's chair, running through her script. She was desperately trying to rememorizes her lines and remember where she was supposed to move. When they started, it was Tuesday all over again for her. Her marks had changed, her lines had changed, her camera angles had changed, and she almost couldn't get any of it right. The only thing she got right was her lines, all nicely color coded, but she kept working on her movement and positioning, and finally got through the first scene, trying to ignore the comments from the director.

But, she again had trouble with the next scene and the director was getting frustrated with Penny. "Am I using too big of words for you to understand? Do you not know your left from your right? Upstage from downstage?"

Penny managed to finally get through a scene without problems, but with more changes in the next scene, her problems returned. This time the director was simply angry. "What is wrong with you?" he yelled at her, "Your mark moved six inches, and your last line only has three new words in it. I've had an easier time when I worked with babies. Get it together."

Jeanie could see that Penny was on the verge of tears. She called Tina over, whispered something to Tina, who then went to Kelli, who nodded. Kelli went and had a whispered, animated, conversation with the director. He still looked angry, but he nodded then practically spit out, "Take fifteen, everyone."

Jeanie quickly walked over to Penny and said, "Don't worry, you're getting it, he is just impatient." Penny nodded, and Jeanie continued, "Come on, lets get a cup of coffee."

Jeanie and Penny walked over to craft services, and they each poured a cup. Jeanie then walked them both over to one of the sets on one side of the audience seating, away from everyone else. Jeanie said, "You are doing fine, as far as the acting goes."

"Yes, you are a bit off as far as your marks are concerned, and you are so worried about that, that you are forgetting your lines. So here's what were going to do. As for your marks, watch me, when you move. I'll give you hints. If I lean to my left, you move left, same with right. If I turn my body, you turn your body in the same direction."

"But won't that put you in the wrong place?"

"Yeah, some, possibly" said Jeanie, "but, it won't be that bad, and I can make corrections before the camera returns to me. If I can't make it, in time, I know how to face in a way that if I'm off a bit, it won't be noticed."

"But how do you know my marks?"

"You basically have to be just to the left or right of the camera behind you," said Jeanie, "so I can be seen when I say my lines. Now, since you're going to watch me for your marks, let's work your lines for this scene, until they call us back. We'll have some time after this scene to go over the lines for your next scene."

Penny worked with Jeanie and she was able to get through the rest of the run through. The director told everyone to break for lunch and Penny headed over to craft services. She grabbed a salad for lunch and then studied her lines some more, while she ate. When Tina told everyone to get ready for the pre-tape scenes, Penny went to her dressing room to change. She returned and found she was the first one on set. She sat in her chair and studied her lines some more.

Once everyone was there Tina said, "We're going to start in about 5 minutes, so get ready." First off, they did the scene with Jeanie and Dave, with the dog. They did that twice, then moved on to the scene with Jeanie and Penny with the dog. This went rather smoothly for Penny, as she basically sat on their couch for the whole scene.

Everyone shifted to Dave's character's apartment for their scene, while Jeanie and Penny had their hair put up. While that was going on, Penny and Jeanie again worked on Penny's lines and movement. This really helped Penny and she got through the second pre-taped scene twice, and was able to give a different interpretation each time, without any problems. But, even with that, the director was either sarcastic or snarky with her.

Tina told everyone to go ahead and change and meet here after they were done. Penny was the first one down, looked for the director, but didn't see, she simply sat in her chair and waited for everyone else. Once everyone was there, Jim started speaking and told everyone that the scenes looked great, both on the monitor and in person, and he was looking forward to the taping tomorrow.

Penny could see Kelli was pointedly looking at her and nodding. Penny thought back to the conversation she had had with Kelli. Then Tina was telling everyone to be in at ten AM on Friday and said everyone was free to leave. Penny said goodbye to Jeanie and started for the door.

Kelli stopped her and said, "Penny, that last part was for you. You looked really great on-screen."

Penny smiled and said, "Thank you, I'll see you tomorrow." Penny turned and headed for the door.

Annapurna Grill, 6:30 PM, Thursday, Feb 16th, 2012

"It was so terrible," said Penny. "The director was flat out yelling at me, making just nasty comments, telling me he had it easier with babies. I was so embarrassed I just wanted to find a hole to crawl into."

Leonard could see the anger on Penny's face. "But, you obviously made it through."

"Yeah," said Penny, "thanks to Kelli and Jeanie. Kelli keeps telling me I'm fine, Jeanie helped me with my moves and marks. I swear, if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have been able to make it through today."

"On the bright side," said Leonard, "you told me this director won't be there if the show makes it to TV, so you won't have to deal with him."

"If I can make it through tomorrow," said Penny. "Jeanie said she'll help me so I hope it will be easier. I don't think the director can yell as much if there is an audience, at least I'm hoping he can't yell at me as much."

"I also want to go over my movements and lines tonight," said Penny, "will you help me?"

Learned grinned, "Of course, lets get desert and then we can head home to work on your lines and movement."

Penny grinned back at Leonard, "Thanks, I really do appreciate it."

Leonard smiled and said, "I know."

Penny stuck her tongue out at him.