A/N Yes, there is a lot of Penny here. Don't worry, Leonard will be back in the next chapter. I want to take this time to thank again, my first draft reader, TBBT78 for all her valuable suggestions and comments. Even if I don't use them, (or have to explain how they will be mentioned in future chapters), she causes me to think about where the story is headed. And a big thank you to bfm10 for correcting my typos and silly spellings, and giving me some suggestions. Without bfm10, it would certainly have a lot more errors. I'm actually thinking that I'm less than ten chapters from the end, in first draft. Have got quite a few more than than to publish. Anyway, here ya go.

Chapter 46

Apt 314, NYC 8:30 PM Thursday October 25th 2012

Penny opened a new bottle of wine, while continuing to study her lines. Jeanie had gotten home from work at almost five. She came home, grabbed her bag, stop to say goodbye to Penny, then caught a cab to Pennsylvania Station, to catch the 8 PM train. She had caught Penny while she was eating, gave Penny her key, and told her to drop her mail off.

Penny was trying to concentrate on her script, but she would get angry at the lies that were being spread about her, and lose concentration. She would finally calm down, and get back to studying, but would lose 15-20 minutes of study time.

She finally gave up studying, and turned on the TV, pouring another glass of wine. She knew she wasn't drunk, but was feeling tipsy when Leonard called at ten. They talked for about a half hour, but Penny let Leonard know she was feeling tired, and wanted to get to bed early. Although disappointed, Leonard didn't let it show, and after exchanging an I love you, they hung up. Penny started getting ready for bed, Leonard going back to his calculations and experimental results.

Studio 44, NYC 2:30 PM Friday October 26th 2012

Jim and Kelli called all the crew over just before ten. After everyone had gathered around, Jim started talking about the article that was appearing today on Penelope. How it was lies, that himself and Kelli have no problem with the job Penelope is doing. That they both were really happy with her job.

He continued, telling everyone an investigation was going on trying to find who leaked those lies to the tabloids. How if they didn't come forward, getting fired may be the least of their problems. He then stressed that if anyone had a problem, they could come and talk to either him, or Kelli, or even Steve, if it was a production problem, and let them solve it.

He asked if there were any questions, and when there were none, he changed subjects. He began telling them that the show's ratings last night, and for the year, were in the middle of the pack. They were high enough to continue, for now, but it didn't appear it was going to be a big breakout show. Damn, I forgot the show was on last night, thought Penny.

Again, Jim asked if there were any questions, and when there were none, he told them to get ready to do the run through. He looked at Penny, smiled and nodded, and she smiled back. As the group broke up, quite a few of the crew came up to Penny, and offered their support of her. She was touched that so many were showing their concern.

As they broke up, most everyone started toward the guys' apartment, where the first scene was to be shot. Penny walked over to the women's apartment, and kept reading her script.

As they did the run through, Penny struggled in places, and was getting extremely frustrated. As they neared the end of the run through, Penny again made an error and yelled out, "What the fuck is wrong with you Penn…elope?" Steve looked at her strangely, which Penny noticed and said, "Sorry, I'm just a little frustrated."

After they finished, Tina brought around some changes. One of her scenes were cut, but two were added. The two that were added were scenes between Penny and Brent, both were given the changes and lunch was called.

Penny grabbed a salad then went to her dressing room. She ate while she added the new pages, transferring a couple of things for other scenes. It didn't take her long, so she was happy about that, but was still frustrated with her mistakes. It shouldn't be this hard, I've only got four scenes this week, dammit. She started trying to memorize the changes to her lines.

After lunch, Steve gave Penny and Brent their new blocking, then ran through the scenes a couple of times. After they finished, Steve called a 15 minute break, as they would start the afternoon run through after the break.

Penny got a cup of coffee, and went back to the woman's apartment, where she would start the run through. She was going over her script when she heard Brent say, "Penelope, I feel bad for you, that you have to go through that kind of bullshit. You've had your problems, but it hasn't slowed anything down, and you keep working to get better. We all screw up, so just try to ignore those outside people."

Penny had had a slight suspicion that it was Brent who had passed along the problems that were reported. But, she really didn't have any proof, so she just said, "Thanks, Brent. I'm going to work my ass off, to prove whoever did it, wrong."

Brent smiled and said, "That's the attitude, go get them." He turned and walked toward the guys' apartment. Penny watched him walk away, Maybe he wasn't the one. He hasn't been that bad the last few weeks. She shook her head, and went back to studying her script.

Studio 44, NYC 4:00 PM Friday October 26th 2012

They had finished the afternoon run through, Penny was waiting around, as Steve said he wanted to run through the added scenes again. She had also erupted in anger twice, after messing up her lines once, and blocking the other time.

Steve had finished with Dave, and called Penny and Brent over to him. Steve asked them to move over to the guys' apartment, and as they walked, he explained, "Penelope, one thing, you need to move in closer to Brent for both of these scenes. It's the same problem you had a couple of weeks ago."

Penny nodded, "Ok, I'll work on it, but do we really need to rerun it? I don't want to keep Brent around for something that isn't his fault."

"It's no problem, Penelope," said Brent. "If we need to work on it, we'll work on it."

"Besides," said Steve, "there's another problem. Your interactions look a bit forced, so we want to work on that also. It makes it easier for you if you are working on it together."

Penny nodded and they continued to the guys' apartment, ready to try to get their interactions right.

Penny was still struggling, so they spent a couple of extra hours working on all of that, trying to get everything worked out. Finally, Steve said, "OK, that's it. I think we got it. Penelope, Brent, the two of you should run through your scenes, if you can find some time, to try to get your interactions right."

Both Brent and Penny looked at each other, and nodded, then both headed for their dressing rooms, to gather their things and leave.

Apt 314, NYC 8:30 PM Friday October 26th 2012

Penny was trying to study her script, but she her mind was churning over the events of the day. After leaving the studio, Penny went to the store first, buying some food for the weekend. She also bought a few bottles of wine. She came home, made dinner, then started working on her script.

She took a large swig of the wine while thinking. I shouldn't be making those damn little mistakes, anymore. And why the hell can't I get this thing down with Brent? Not to mention I'm now told our interactions look forced. What the hell does that even mean, and how do I fix it?

Oh Leonard, I could so use a visit with you right now. You always know what to tell me, to calm me down. She took another drink, reached for the bottle and poured another glass. She turned to the clock and looked at it. Let's see, it's 8:30 so it's 5:30 there. He should be on his way home, maybe I'll call him around 9:30, I just need to talk to him. Penny turned back to her script, and began studying again.

Apt 314, NYC 8:30 AM Saturday October 27th 2012

Penny rolled over, opened her eyes and groaned. Her head hurt, and her mouth was dry. What the hell did I do last night? Penny was trying to put it together. She had called Leonard, but he hadn't answered, making her sad. With nothing to do, she started watching TV, and kept drinking. That's it, I should have stopped.

Then she finally remembered, Leonard had been working on some calculations, at CalTech, and was running late. By the time he called, Penny was closer to drunk, than to tipsy, and Leonard noticed. Penny was telling him about the mistakes, the article, and she was getting angrier and angrier.

Leonard was able to calm her down, and they managed to have a rather enjoyable "Skype" session. Penny was feeling more relaxed, but she was still angry at herself, and a bit drunk. Leonard mentioned her being drunk, which she cut off quickly. They went on to talk about a few other things, before ending the call saying I love you to each other. Penny had managed to end the call without him noticing her anger.

Being upset, made her want some more wine, so she went back out into the living room, opened another bottle and tried to watch some TV, while she sipped on her wine. She found Home Shopping Network, sat watching that, drinking wine until she realized she had fallen asleep on the couch. She turned off the TV, stumbled to her bedroom and crawled into bed.

Fortunately, she didn't have to be in today, so she took her time getting out of bed. She went through her morning rituals, taking two aspirin, and was now sipping on a cup of coffee. While her mouth was no longer dry, she still had a headache, those aspirin should take care of the headache and being hungover again, she thought, God, I've got to stop that.

She saw some papers on her coffee table and went over to take a look. Looking through the printed sheets, she again realized that wine, a credit card, and late night TV was a bad combination. Perhaps she could send most of it back.

Studio 44, NYC 10:30 AM Monday October 30th 2012

Penny popped two more aspirin into her mouth, and washed it down with the last of the coffee in her travel mug. At least I'm not all that hungover this morning.

Penny was thinking about her weekend, the hangover on Saturday, and spending, with Jeanie gone, most of the day lonely, wanting to talk to Leonard. But she found out with Amy gone to a weekend conference, Leonard was tasked with taking Sheldon around all day Saturday.

To combat the loneliness, she went out on her own. Going back to the Ph-d nightclub and actually starting the night having a good time. She had limited her drinks to two, and had fast danced with a couple of guys, and another group of women. The good time lasted until that one guy tried to kiss her. She slapped him, then left for home, angry.

After arriving home, she found out she missed Leonard's call, adding frustration to her anger. She had a few more glasses of wine, before stumbling to her bedroom, and passing out.

She was again hung over on Sunday, and, although feeling lonely again, managed to make it through the day. The three calls to Leonard, throughout the day, had prevented her from feeling sad and drinking as heavily as she had the previous night. But she was still suffering from some light hangover feelings, just not as bad as the previous two days.

Studio 44, NYC 11:30 AM Monday October 30th 2012

The entire crew was waiting for Jeanie to arrive, so they could do a quick run through, then shoot her scenes. Kelli had come over to Penny, reminding her that she had another interview tomorrow, at 4 PM, an hour before she had to get ready for the taping. Penny nodded, telling Kelli she remembered.

Just then, Jeanie arrived and everyone started to get ready for the run through, prior to the pre-shoots.

After the run through, the other three actors pre-shot their scenes with Jeanie, so she wouldn't have to be at the taping. This left Penny with just three scenes to shoot on taping night, two of them with Brent, one with Dave.

After the pre-shoots were finished, Brent came over to ask if she wanted to run through their scenes to make sure they were ready for the taping tomorrow. Penny nodded, thanked Brent, then they went to find Steve. A half hour later, they were finished. She went to her dressing room, looked around, and seeing everything was put away, shut off the light, and left.

Studio 44, NYC 7:15 PM Tuesday October 31th 2012

Penny was looking through her new script, it had been delivered during their break in shooting. Of course, it was quite early tonight, as with all the scenes they had shot on Monday, there weren't that many tonight. Penny had finished the interview, just before getting ready for the taping.

Penny only had one more scene to shoot. It was her second scene with Brent. Her scene with Dave went very well, but her first scene with Brent didn't. Steve had called them over and wanted to shoot again. While it looked natural to Steve, she was still leaning away a bit and he wanted to reshoot it.

It took a fourth take to get it, and then the break had come. Her last scene was going to be near the end of the show, so to kill time, she had picked up her new script, and started reading. As she looked through, it was obvious that this was going to be a major episode with Hunk and Jess. Penny saw five scenes with only her and Brent, and a couple of others with her, Brent, and someone else.

She was finally called down to the set for her last scene, and again, there was a problem between her and Brent. This time it only took three takes, but it had been for the same reasons. After the scene, Steve reminded them of working through the scenes together, before moving on to the next scene. They finally finished the taping, took their bows, and then went to their dressing rooms. Penny took off her makeup, changed into her own clothes and headed over to Jake's.

Jakes, NYC 8:15 PM Monday October 31th 2012

Jim and Kelli were already there when Penny walked in. While Jim went to get her a drink, Penny sat down and Kelli asked about her problems with the scenes with Brent. Her and Jim were concerned because of all the scenes they knew were coming the next week.

Jim had returned, and mentioned that if there was some kind of a problem, they really needed to go over their lines together, to get comfortable with each other, Kelli nodding her agreement with Jim. Penny simply said she really didn't know why, but thought working through those scenes together might help.

Just then, Tina, Dave, his wife, and Brent walked in, and came to the table. Tina sat on one side of Penny, Dave on the other, with Brent across the table from Penny. Jim got up to get them their drinks, and brought them back to the table. Tina and Penny were in conversation, as were Dave and Brent, all four about how the production had gone that night.

Tina was asking Penny what she felt was the problem with her and Brent's scenes and again said she really didn't know. Tina suggested that to solve it, they really needed to go over and work through the scenes together, run lines together, to try and work through it.

At that Penny heard Brent say, "Hey, Penny."

She turned and looked up at him, it was the first time he had called her Penny. She also noticed Brent was standing over Dave's chair, Dave had gotten up, and was walking towards the men's room.

"Did you see all the scenes we have next week?" Brent said, looking down at her.

Penny nodded.

Brent sat down, put his arm on Penny's chair, and leaned into her, so he could be heard over the noise. "How about coming over tonight to work on them?" asked Brent. "After all, we got out of there early tonight, and we have a couple of hours. Maybe if we go over it, we won't have the problems we've been having."

Penny was thinking, Tina, Kelli and Jim all suggested it, Brent suggested it, I wonder if Jeanie would suggest it? I wish Jeanie was here. It was then that Penny noticed everyone was looking at her, waiting for her answer.

Well, since people other than Brent suggested it, maybe it won't hurt to run through them. Fifteen or so minutes on each scene, talk about it a bit, and I'll get out of there in a couple of hours. Brent hasn't been creepy lately, and actually has seemed supportive.

Penny nodded, smiled and said, "Yeah, that might not be a bad idea, how about I finish this glass of wine, and then we can go. I don't want to be too late. It's nine now, so a couple of hours of work would get me home by midnight, how's that?"

"That would be great."

"What?" said Penny, not hearing Brent as several people, in the bar, started yelling. She leaned into Brent to hear him.

Brent leaned in to repeat what he had said. At that moment, there was a flash, causing Penny to blink, then a couple more flashes, it appeared that someone had taken a picture of the table. That had happened several times before, and as usual, Penny scowled, as did Jim and Kelli. Brent and Dave stood, as a man and woman ran off.

"Damn Paps" said Brent as he and Dave sat back down and everyone at the table agreed.

Penny and Brent finished their drinks and a half an hour later, they were in a cab, on their way to Brent's apartment.

After arriving, Penny was looking over his upper west side apartment, as he showed her around. She had to admit it was really nice, as he had it decorated rather tastefully. Finally, he suggested they get to work, since Penny didn't want to stay too late, and they walked back to the living room.

He asked her if she wanted anything to drink, and she said a small glass of wine. He walked to his makeshift bar, and Penny leaned over to get her script out of her bag. She couldn't find it at first, then finally found it at the bottom. Grabbing it, she sat back up and saw Brent walking toward her.

He handed her a small glass of wine, put his beer on the table, then sat down across from her and her open script on the coffee table between them. He reached back and grabbed his script, and putting it on the table, asked, "Where do you want to start?"