A/N Nothing much, a heads up about minor sexual talk. Other than that, I don't own any of the characters here, well the courier.

Chapter 19

Apt 314, New York, 9:00 AM, Tuesday August 7, 2012

Penny was sipping coffee at her kitchen table. She was expecting Jeanie to come down and wait together for their scripts to arrive. She was also looking through her email, and was thinking about how the weekend went.

Before going out for dinner, Jeanie had taken Penny to a Bodega just down the street from their place. They had picked up a few packaged meals and drinks for Penny. Around six PM, they went to eat and Jeanie had paid for dinner. They walked back to her apartment, and finished two bottles of wine while they talked.

Penny asked Jeanie quite a few questions about her life, which Jeanie good-naturedly answered. Jeanie told Penny about growing up in a suburb of Boston and going to Boston University, getting her BFA. After graduating, she had moved to New York, getting small parts in several Broadway shows, along with small parts on Law and Order, and Sex and the City. She finally decided to moved to LA, and had gotten parts in movies, and some small parts and recurring roles in Televison.

She admitted working with Jim and Kelli on their shows before, and how they had talked to her about this show a few years ago. They asked her to star in the show, a show based, in part, on Kelli's life. She told Penny their discussion had gone on for a couple of years before everything finally came together.

After that night, it had been a fairly lonely weekend for Penny. Jeanie had left, early Friday, to go to Boston to see her family, so Penny, not really knowing anyone, was left all by herself from Friday to Sunday. She did spend most of all three days talking or Skyping with Leonard, both of them very much missing the other.

On Monday, Jeanie was back and knocked on Penny's door at ten AM. Since Jeanie had lived in the city before, and Penny had only been in the city once, for the Upfronts, Jeanie planned to take Penny around the neighborhood they would be living in for the next nine months.

First, she showed her the various transportation options. The two subway stations that were fairly close and an almost equal distance from the apartment, all the bus stops within two blocks of their apartment building, and finally, she took her to the two taxi stands available in the neighborhood.

Then, they walked around the neighborhood, Jeanie showing Penny a few other Bodegas to get an item quickly, or a quick bite to eat or a drink; the CVS drug store, for medical and personal needs, at the East end of their block; and finally, their last stop for the day, the Morton Williams grocery store next to the CVS, where they each bought a few days worth of food and a few bottles of wine. On their way home, they both grabbed a couple of slices of pizza, and headed back to their apartments where they spent the rest of the afternoon talking about the particular sets and characters of the show, and Penny asked some more about Jeanie.

Apt 314, New York, 10 AM Tuesday August 7, 2012

At ten, Penny heard a knock on her door. It was Jeanie and Penny invited her in. She got Jeanie a cup of coffee and they both sat at the table.

"What time will we get the script?" asked Penny.

"Probably around one or two," said Jeanie. "When we're shooting, we'll get it during the break or right after we finish."

"Oh, cool," said Penny, "well, we got three or four hours before we get it, what should we do?"

For the next hour, Jeanie suggested some other places she would show Penny during the rest of the week. They also talked about how they thought the show was going to go, whether the critics would like it, whether the audience would like it, how long it would be on. Then Penny started to ask Jeanie about her trip home, but Jeanie interrupted.

"You asked me all those questions about myself, over the weekend, how about you answer some of mine about you?"

Penny smile and said, "Seems fair, what do you want to know?"

"Let's see," said Jeanie, "I know about you living in Nebraska, you moved to California and were a waitress. I know what you've worked on, and let me say, you're doing so well, for having so little experience. Hmmmmm, all those friends of your's I met at the taping. All of them have PhD's?

"No, just five of the six," said Penny.

"Just five of six?" asked Jeanie incredulously. "It's that all?"

"Well, Howard has a masters in astronautical engineering." said Penny.

Jeanie rolled her eyes, "Yeah, like that's nothing."

Penny shook her head and continued, "When I first met him, he was always hitting on me, really sleazy, but Bernadette has tamed him somewhat. He's on the Space Station right now."

"Wait, really?" said Jeanie, "you can just throw away a line like that? Do you know how ridiculous that sounds to someone like me?"

"What?" said Penny confused. "How is that ridiculous and what am I throwing out?"

Jeanie shook her head, "You have six friends, five of them have a PhD and the other 'only' has a masters in Astronautical Engineering, and is on the space station. You know someone who's on the space station and you say it like it's no big deal. That is what is ridiculous."

Penny chuckled, "Yeah, I guess I do. I never really thought of it that way, they are all just my friends. Howard's wife, Bernadette, has a PhD in micro…micro…micro…somthing…biology, I think, something to do with yeast. She's making a bunch of money, she works for a pharmaceutical company. She does research and works on developing new drugs. She can be so sweet, but also really mean."

"Raj, excuse me, Rajesh, is from India, and he has a PhD in astrophysics. He can't talk to women. Something called selective mutism. Oh, he can talk to women if he is drinking. But, when he does that, he's a real ass, although Howard says he's a real ass all the time, we just can't hear it. Because of his mutism, he whispers to Howard, who tells us what he said".

"Amy has her PhD in something to do with the brain," said Penny. "Amy is interesting. In some ways, she's like a teenager, she is seriously emotionally stunted. Her mother was really tough on her when she was growing up. Sometime she acts like she's a lesbian, and I'm who she shows affection to. Hmmmmmm, she's kind of a female Sheldon, which I know doesn't help you, but she is starting to become more socially aware."

"Sheldon, ahhhhh, now what can I say about Sheldon. He has a PhD in particle physics, but, boy is he weird. I've heard some say he has something called Asperger's syndrome, but his mother says she had him tested and there's nothing wrong with him. I've heard him described as OCD, he has to have all these lists and schedules. He doesn't drive, doesn't understand sarcasm and he hates change. And he thinks he's better than anyone else. He's not, and he has emotional issues, but he is kinda sweet. He infuriates me sometimes, but he is my friend. Like I said Amy is a female Sheldon, but she is more open to change and outside experiences."

"What about Leonard?"

Penny smiled, "Ahhhhhh, yes, Leonard. He has his PhD in physics." She paused for a second, "You know, I don't know what specific in physics, but he is currently working with lasers, something about detecting something. I'm sorry, I really don't understand a lot of what he does."

Jeanie chuckled, "Well, I wouldn't either. I did a show where I had a bunch of science dialogue, and man it was hard to remember it. It's tough to remember your lines, when you don't know what you're saying. Come on, let's go to lunch."

"What?"

"It's only a half hour to noon," said Jeanie, "There's a Chinese takeout place down the street. We can go get food and be back in twenty or thirty minutes."

It was actually almost 40 minutes, before they got back, then another ten to put out the food. They put it on their plates and then Jeanie said, "Tell me more about Leonard."

Penny smiled, "Let's see, Leonard. You should have seen it when I first met him. He couldn't look at me in the eye, he was so shy. And he's such a nerd. All the guys are really. Science Fiction, comic books, board games, video games, computers, all of that. When I told him Dave was going to be part of the show, he seemed more excited to meet him, 'cause he played Captain Avery, than excited for me getting a regular part on a show."

"He said he fell for me that first minute he met me. It really didn't take me much longer to feel something for him, but I'm the type that avoids commitment. Some woman that worked with him basically had a one night stand with him and I got a little jealous, stupid huh? It was strange, he and Sheldon came into the restaurant and I found out she wasn't really dating him, and I wanted to smile. I had to walk away so he wouldn't see it. It did take me a lot longer to let him know."

"He finally asked me out and we had a good time, but I didn't think I was smart enough for him, and he didn't think he was good enough for me, so we didn't go out again. For the next year, we kept getting closer as friends. He had a relationship, well, I did too. But, then we were both free, but didn't get back to dating."

Penny paused for a minute, her face looking sad as she thought about it, "Then he had to go on an expedition for three months. I couldn't say anything, we weren't dating, but I did get him a blanket with sleeves." She perked up a bit. "When he got back I let him know how I felt and we started dating." Penny got up and went to her bedroom. Coming back out, giving Jeanie a plastic square.

"What is this?" ask Jeanie, looking at it.

"It's a snowflake, preserved in plastic," said Penny with a smile. "It will never melt."

"That is so sweet."

"Yeah, it was, still is," said Penny. "We were together for about nine months, then I did something stupid. He said 'I love you' and I couldn't say it back. I told him I had been burned before by saying it too soon. He told me he would give me time to get used to it. But, I struggled, then was talking to someone who got me thinking, what if I could never say it? That wouldn't be fair to him, so I broke up with him, although I still had feelings for him."

"Why?" asked Jeanie.

"I guess I thought that I would hurt him, if I strung him along."

"Didn't you hurt him by breaking up with him?" asked Jeanie.

"Of course," said Penny sadly, "but I thought it would be worse if I strung it out, so I thought a quick break was better for him." She stopped, again looking sad. "We managed to stay friends, but then he started seriously dating someone and I became a wreck. I still had feelings for him, but it wouldn't have been fair to him to say anything while he was seriously dating someone."

"Then he found out his girlfriend was leaving" Penny paused for a second, deciding not to mention what else happened that night. "They tried a long distance relationship, but it didn't work. I took a chance and after they broke up and told him how I felt. He was understandably wary, and it took a few more weeks before we got back together and another month before I told him I loved him, even though I knew I did. You see, as I said, I'm a bit of a commitment-phobe. But, before coming here, we wanted to define where our relationship was. We decided we were sexually monogamous as boyfriend/girlfriend and actually talked about getting engaged next year."

"Can I tell you a secret?" asked Penny conspiratorially. Jeanie nodded, and Penny continued, "He's the only guy I've ever dated, who I could picture having kids with. I sometimes see little Pennys or Leonards running around."

"You haven't told him that?" said Jeanie.

"No, I haven't," said Penny, "you would have to know Leonard and how he would react, and I'm positive I'm not ready for kids right now. He would get way too excited and read all sorts of things into it."

"You really love him now, don't you?"

Penny grinned, "Yeah, I do. I even loved him when I couldn't say it back to him. I was just too scared to tell him. I'm just glad we were able to get back together. He's gotten more confident, I've gotten more nerdy. For example, I know way too much about Star Trek and Star Wars, not…"

There was a knock on the door.

Apartment 4A, 10 AM Tuesday August 7, 2012

Leonard was on his computer, trying to work on writing up a schedule for getting his lab ready. He would be going in tomorrow for the first time, officially, this year. He would be unpacking the lab, trying to get things set up for the doctoral students. While he wasn't their thesis advisor, he would be helping them with anything to do with lasers. But his mind kept wandering.

He and Penny were supposed to Skype tonight, and it was going to be their first time at trying Skype sex. They had talked about it before Penny left and they had tried to do what they were planning on doing tonight. Basically, they realized, they would both simply masturbate, while watching the other.

Leonard found one problem with it, he kept closing his eyes. The loss of the visual stimulation of a nude Penny, was somewhat offset by the audio simulation of a very vocal Penny, and it kept him going. He was really looking forward to hearing that tonight and he finally gave up on trying to work. He turned his computer off, and turned on his PS3 and started playing a scenario in Red Dead Redemption.

A half hour later, Sheldon and Amy came in. Sheldon had a large box with a freight train on the side. They must have gone to the train store and Sheldon bought another set, thought Leonard. While Sheldon took his train box to his room, Amy sat down on the couch.

"Leonard," said Amy.

Leonard was surprised and didn't answer right away as Amy usually never talked to him.

"Leonard," Amy repeated.

OK, he thought, I guess she is talking to me. He answered "Yes Amy?"

"Bernadette called me," said Amy, "and she will be joining us for dinner tonight, along with Raj. I just thought I would tell you, so you weren't surprised."

"Thank you, Amy," said Leonard, "I appreciate it, but I did know that." He turned back to the game.

Sheldon came out and sat in his spot, next to Amy. "Amy, do you want to play some Counterfactuals?"

"Yes, I believe I would," said Amy.

"Good, because I brought out the categories," said Sheldon showing Amy the cards. "Do you want to play Leonard."

"You know I don't like that game," said Leonard.

"Yes, I know you are incompetent at playing it," said Sheldon. "But I thought I would be polite and ask."

Leonard, without saying a word, got out of the chair, turned off the console, turned off the TV, and headed for his bedroom.

"Well that was rude of him," said Sheldon. "he could have at least answered me. He could have kept playing the video game, while we played, he didn't have to leave. I just don't understand him sometimes."

"Well," said Amy, "he is a bit of downer. He's not fun like the two of us."

"How true, Amy," said Sheldon, "how true."

Apt 314, New York, 2:00 PM, Tuesday August 7, 2012

They looked at each other and Penny jumped up to answer the door. It was a courier, holding an envelope and a clipboard. He gave her the clipboard, and said, "Sign at the bottom." Penny did and he handed the envelope to her.

Jeanie spoke up, "You have one for 601, right?"

He looked at his other envelope, nodded and said, "Yes… wait, how did you know?"

"That's me," said Jeanie, "the name on the envelope, and the signature is for Jeanie Corbette, right?"

The courier looked suspicious, until Jeanie said, "Look, how would I know you had one for 601, for Jeanie Corbette? I'm just trying to save you some time."

Before he could say anything, Penny piped up, "Yeah, it's her. We're both in the same show, I live here, she lives up on the sixth floor."

He still looked unsure, so Jeanie said, "If you absolutely have to see my ID, I suppose I can walk up with you, so you can see that it is my apartment."

"Nah," said the courier, "if you're willing to go up there, I guess it's you."

The courier handed the envelope to Jeanie and told her where to sign. Jeanie took her envelope and went back to the table. Penny said goodbye to the courier and closed the door. She walked back to the table and sat down.

Jeanie said, "You ready to see our second show? Well, first here."

Penny nodded, "This is so exciting for me. My first series script that isn't a pilot. I may have to have this bronzed." They both started laughing as they opened their envelopes.