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Chapter 14

Producers office, 10 AM, Thursday April 12, 2012

Penny was waiting in Jim and Kelli's office, waiting for them to come out and get her. She had driven there, arriving at 9:45, because she didn't want to get there too early. After they called her in, she told them she was accepting the move to New York. They were both happy she accepted and they also gave her the check for the days of work on the reshoots. They also told her the new contract would go to her agent, for her review, before sending it to Penny for her signature.

They also gave her the tentative shooting schedule, and as soon as she saw it, she tried to find a way to leave as soon as she could. After leaving the office, she called Howard, she had forgotten how to get to Leoanrd's lab. He explained to her how to get to Leonard's building at the university. She found the parking lot Howard suggested, and saw Howard was waiting for her.

While he was leading her down the corridors of the building and just before they got to Leonard's lab, Howard asked, "What bring you here?"

Penny said, I can't you yet, I want to tell Leonard first." Howard smiled and nodded, and just pointed to the door of Leonard's lab, then walked away.

At the door, Penny stopped for a few seconds, she was patting her hair, and brushing her clothes. She finally felt as if everything was in place and walked through the door.

"Oh Leonard," she started, "I got the best news…" She stopped, seeing Leonard had someone else in the lab with him. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know you were with someone else."

Leonard looked up, surprised and said, "Penny, what are you doing here?"

"Don't worry about it," said Penny. "It can wait, I'm sorry I interrupted." She turned to leave.

"Wait, Penny," said Leonard. Penny stopped and turned around.

Leonard continued, "I want to introduce you to Dr Geoff Whatney. Geoff, this is my girlfriend, Penny."

"It's nice to meet you Dr Whatney," said Penny. "Leonard's told me a bit about you."

"So nice to me you," said Geoff. "Leonard told me you two were dating, but he didn't tell me how lovely you were, and please, call me Geoff."

Penny blushed a bit at the compliment.

Geoff looked at both of them, then said, "It appears you have something exciting to tell Leonard, so I'll take off for a bit…"

"No, Geoff," said Penny, "You stay, I'll tell him when he gets home."

"Nonsense," said Geoff, "It's about time for my late morning tea, so I'll run down to the canteen, while you two talk."

"Thanks Geoff," said Leonard.

"Thank you," said Penny.

"No trouble at all," said Geoff as he left the lab.

"So, what is so important or exciting, that you come to my lab for only the second time ever? "

"I was here before this year," said Penny, "I was here with…"

She stopped, looking embarrassed. Leonard looked at her quizzically, and suddenly he got it. You were here with Dave, weren't you?"

Penny nodded.

"Did you have sex with him here?"

"NO," said Penny emphatically, "we never had sex here…" Penny's voice trailed off.

"Meaning you've had sex in other places," said Leonard with a smirk.

"Look Leonard," said Penny, "he was an ass and that was three years…"

Leonard chuckled, "Don't worry, I'm just teasing. When you two came to the cafeteria, it was rather obvious you had sex with him, just not sure where. It's good to know it wasn't here, not sure I could work here if you had. Anyway, what's the good news?"

Penny looked mollified, and he could see the excitement on her face, "Oh, Leonard, remember when I said we would get a week or so off sometimes? I got the shooting schedule. Except for the first four weeks, it's a shoot two weeks, then we're off one week."

"What? A week off every three weeks?" said Leonard, his voice sounding excited also.

"Yeah," said Penny, so I'll be able to come home every third week. And, four weeks for Christmas and of course I have four months off during the summer, when you also have time off, so it won't be so bad.

"Well, if I'm working on my research, there may be times during the summer where I might have to travel to places to discuss my work, or go to a university to talk to others who are doing research. Prepare to work with the grad students for the next year. But, there are some week breaks during the school year," said Leonard, "so I could come to New York for a week when we get those breaks."

"Yes," said Penny, "it's not going to be so bad after all. A couple of weeks will be easy to manage. Oh, Leonard, it's going to work." Penny ran up to him engulfing him in a hug. He enthusiastically returned it.

"So, anything else?"

Penny pulled back a bit, so she could look at Leonard, but they still had their arms wrapped around each other, "Yeah, but it's something we can talk about when you get home. I've got to meet Amy and Bernadette this afternoon, were going to do some planning for the wedding and some for her bachelorette party. And, I have to get some lunch before I go."

Penny kissed him, "I'll see you at home." Penny broke the hug, kissed him again, and walked toward the door, "See you tonight. Love you."

Leonard smiled, "Love you too, see you tonight."

Penny left, and Leonard started working on a calculation to have ready when Geoff returned.

Apt 4B, 7:30 PM, Thursday April 12, 2012

Leonard entered the apartment, but didn't see Penny. He knew he was late. He and Geoff had been working on the calculations all afternoon. They had gotten partially done, then Geoff had gotten an idea, and at that point they had lost track of the time as they worked with it, setting up the preliminary equations for the protons.

He walked into the bedroom, then looked in the bathroom but, again, didn't see Penny. He was wondering where she was, when he heard the apartment door open, and he walked out of the bedroom.

"Oh, Leonard," said Penny, "you're home."

"Yes," said Leonard, "I just got here. What have you got?"

"I got dinner, Thai food."

"That's good," said Leonard, "You get it out, I'll get some wine and put plates down." Within minutes they were eating.

"How did it go at Bernadette's today?" asked Leonard.

"Fine," said Penny, "we printed out and then wrote on some labels for various things Bernadette is going to give to her and Howard's relatives and we discussed the bachelorette party. We got some more to do and Amy is coming over Saturday to help."

"You planning a big blow out for that?"

Bernadette doesn't want anything big," said Penny She just wants Amy and me, so it's going to be quiet, low key. We're planning on having it on the same night as Howard's bachelor party."

"That makes sense," said Leonard. "So what's this other thing you want to talk about?"

Leonard could see Penny looked nervous, and was hesitating. Penny looked at Leonard, then said, "What would you think about me quitting The Cheesecake Factory?"

"You mean, now?"

"Yes," said Penny, "well, giving my notice. I was talking to Jim and Kelli today and found some things out, so I thought about it. I mean we have Howard and Bernadette's wedding coming up. I have to go in to shoot a promo for the Up-fronts, then I have to go to New York, FOR the Up-fronts. After that I'll have some things to do to promote the show, interviews, promos that will run on the network."

"I also want to go home for a couple of weeks, and I'd like for us to go somewhere, just me and you for a week, just get away. With all that, I just thought it would better for us… er me… to not have to keep having to ask for time off, it would just make it simpler."

"How are your finances?"

"Well, I'll have two weeks of pay coming," said Penny. "I've got the almost five thousand from shooting the pilot. I've got several more promos to do, and that will be $1500 for each, which is about two weeks of my pay at the restaurant. So I should be able to last until I start getting my regular check."

Leonard thought about it, "And, if something happens, I can help out. Buy food for us, help with water and lights. I mean I won't move out of 4A, but since I spend most of my time here, it makes sense to help out if you need it."

"I think I can handle having you here," said Penny. "After all you're already here." "I thought you would be able to," said Leonard with a smile, "since we said goodbye at the school today."

"Why?"

"Well," said Leonard, "you said you'd see me at home."

"I did?"

"Yes, you did," said Leonard. "It seems you think of this apartment as our home."

Penny had no answer for that, she just stared at Leonard.

Leonard said, "I just thought that if you thought of this as our home, I should help out paying for it. So, I guess you can give your notice tomorrow."

Penny nodded, "Yeah, I'll tell them I'll work through next week." She looked at the calendar, "The 20th will be my last day."

"OK, good," said Leonard.

Penny said, "Thank you, Leonard. I thought you would be upset, but you even offered to help me."

"You thought about it, gave some cognizant reasons, and they make a lot of sense," said Leonard. "It's actually helpful. Like I told you before, I'll keep stuff in 4A and live there, when your are gone. When you're back, we can stay here. I think we ought to pay for this apartment together, even if I'm staying across the hall when you're gone. Besides, I don't want to drive Sheldon crazy, with him thinking he has to find another roommate."

"OK," said Penny. "So, I will give my notice and I guess you will be living here until I leave. Wow, I said you will be living here."

"Yeah," said Leonard, "Intimidated?"

"Penny said, "Nah, I think I got it. Do you want to look around on-line to find a place we can go for a week?"

Leonard nodded, "After we finish cleaning up."

Penny chuckled and nodded as they started clearing the table.

Late April- Early May, 2012

The rest of April passed rather quickly for both Penny and Leonard. Penny, mainly because of the planning for Bernadette's wedding, but also the two days she spent shooting several promos for their upfront presentation.

She did one by herself, and one with Jeanie. From Jeanie, Penny learned that her and Dave had done several, and Dave had done one with the new guy, Brent. Penny still hadn't met Brent, but expected to when they got to New York.

In between shoots, Penny spent a lot of time at Bernadette's, commiserating with her as Howard was at NASA for some fittings for his spacesuit, and his survival training. Near the end of the week, Bernadette decided to travel to Houston to be near Howard and help him through. She said she could tell he was struggling.

Leonard had spent the rest of the month going over the calculations with Geoff, and planning for how they were to proceed. Leonard deferred to Geoff when it came to the theoretical work.

Geoff, however, was surprised at the breadth of Leonard's work. He now understood that Leonard's reputation as a top notch experimentalist, hid the depth of knowledge he had of the theoretical aspects of physics. While Geoff knew Leonard was deferring to him on the theoretical side, Geoff continued to push Leonard on doing or helping with the theoretical work.

The last Saturday in April finally came and the men gathered at a local steakhouse, while the women gathered at Bernadette's apartment. There was some trouble when the women found a video by Wil Wheaton from the bachelor party. Raj was talking about some rather sleazy actions, unknown to Bernadette, that Howard had engaged in prior to meeting Bernadette. After a while, Howard came over to apologize and it brought Penny to tears and mollified Bernadette.

There was now less than two weeks before Howard and Bernadette's wedding, and less than a month before Howard's scheduled launch, when a problem arose. First Howard's flight was cancelled, then re-instated, but moved up to where it would be before the scheduled wedding.

Bernadette wanted to be married before Howard left, but they were prevented from getting married at the courthouse as there were simply too many couples wanting to get married, before courthouse closed at five PM.

Penny then suggested that the other five could get approved to wed others, so they could officiate Howard and Bernadette's wedding. Raj then thought of a place, the apartment roof at 2311 North Robles, and a way to decorate it. With that, Howard and Bernadette agreed to the wedding on Sunday.

Penny and Leonard spent Saturday, getting the certificates signifying Amy, Sheldon, Raj and themselves could perform the wedding. Raj spent the day buying the decorations and then decorating the roof for the wedding, with help from Penny and Leonard.

On Sunday, the guys got dressed in 4A and the women in 4B. Except for the seven members of the group, the only other people there were Howard's mother, and Bernadette's parents. The ceremony went well, the only jarring note was Sheldon trying to say his comments in Klingon, which Bernadette stopped quickly.

After the wedding, Howard and Bernadette spent their wedding night at the Pasadena Westin. Then they left early on Monday, so Howard could get to the airport for his flight to Houston, on his way to Moscow.

Bernadette was upset enough that Penny went with them, so she could drive Bernadette home. Penny discretely slipped away, to get a luggage cart she said, but really to allow Howard and Bernadette some time alone, to say goodbye. When Penny returned, they got out of the car and Penny helped Howard put his luggage on a cart. Bernadette and Howard hugged, kissed then hugged again before Howard took his luggage cart, to check in.

Bernadette was leaning on Penny, sobbing softly, as they watched him move into the terminal, waiting until he was no longer visible. Penny started for the car and saw Bernadette in tears, so she hugged her, until her crying subsided. They then got back in the car, Penny dropping Berndette off, before heading back to her apartment.

Tuesday, Penny spent at CBS headquarters, and with Dave and Jeanie, they met with various CBS executives. Brent was already in New York, so again Penny had missed meeting him. Jim and Kelli were also there and they helped calm Penny, as she was very nervous about meeting all the network big wigs. But, everyone seemed so nice, and kept congratulating her on getting the role.

On Wednesday, Penny met with the television show development people, and again, they were very nice to her, telling her how well she did, and congratulating her. While there, she talked to one assistant and as he asked questions, she gave answers that would go into her official bio.

The next evening, Leonard and Penny attended a formal ball, including everyone who was part of the CBS family. This was a get together to push the new shows, and introduce the various actors to the press, a sort of West coast prequel to the Upfronts. They played both of Penny's promos for the new show and Penny was excited at all the people that came up to tell her how well she did.

She met quite a few stars from CBS and was really excited to me Shemar Moore, from "Criminal Minds" She also met Mark Harmon from NICS. He was quite charming, telling Penny that she should have auditioned for NCIS, he was sure they could have used her for something, maybe a waitress being sarcastic to his character. She was really surprised when she met Mark's wife. She remembered watching reruns of "Mork and Mindy" when she was growing up, and to have Pam Dawber, who played "Mindy" talking to her was exciting, but disconcerting.

Leonard felt a bit out of his element, as meeting all of the people at the network was intimidating to him and he wasn't sure what to say. Penny seemed to fit right in, looking like she was comfortable talking to everyone. Leonard he was feeling very awkward, when he met his own "Pam", Dave's wife, and they had a nice conversation, while Dave and Penny, were moving around talking with everyone.

The next several days were spent preparing for the trip to New York. Leonard had to pack a tux, he had felt strange buying one, while Penny had several gowns waiting in New York for the evening meetings. They also packed some casual clothes for the sightseeing they planned to do there.

Sunday morning, Amy came over to drive them to the airport, with Sheldon riding along. Leonard and Penny were dropped off at their airline, Sheldon complaining the whole time because Amy had parked in the red zone.

They got out of the car and said their goodbyes and headed into the terminal. An hour after getting through security, they were both buckling their seat belts in first class, an upgrade Penny had requested and was happy the network granted, preparing for their flight to New York.