A/N Hi all. This is a longish chapter (but not the longest), but moving the things into the next chapter, would have made that too long. I want to thank TBBT78 and bfm10, for their work and suggestions. One of TBBT78's major suggestions is in this chapter. BTW, I just finished the first draft of Chapter 71, and in first draft, the story is winding down. I have 8-10 chapters (and one epilogue) left. I am also sending my second draft of Chaper 60 and 61 out for copy editing, just to give you an idea of where I am with the rest of the story, and to let you know it won't be out there hanging. Anyway, I'll let you get to it.
Chapter 52
Apt 4A, 8:30 PM Tuesday Nov 6th 2012
Leonard unlocked the front door, threw his keys into the bowl and closed the door. He was tired, because he had gone in early, hoping to get some work done, but he had several meetings that had come up, and so he stayed late, trying to work. But, he really hadn't gotten anything done.
He opened the refrigerator, and found some leftover Thai food. He poked around some more, finding the rice, put both in the microwave, and heated them on half power for three minutes. While waiting for the food, he opened the fridge and poured himself a glass of tea.
After the timer beeped, he pulled it out, stirred it, and put it together on his plate. He didn't even bother to sit down and just ate it right there on the island.
While eating, he thought about calling Penny when he was done, then remembered today was Tuesday and she would be taping, then going to Jake's, the cast's normal Tuesday night. I guess I'll just have to call her tomorrow. Jeez, I hope she at least answers tomorrow. It's been over a week since she's been nauseous. Maybe I can get her to go to the doctor. I wonder if she has the flu.
Leonard started thinking of ways that he might be able to get her to go. After all, over a week is a long time to be ill, and it sounded like the flu. Maybe she's just becoming exhausted, after all, she had to work four weeks in a row, so they wouldn't have to work over Thanksgiving.
No, she can't be exhausted, she started getting sick last week, she wouldn't be exhausted from two weeks of work. Come on Leonard, what are you missing? What could make her nauseous for more than a week? And her not replying to my calls and messages, it's like she's trying to avoid me. But, why would she avoid me?
Suddenly, something clicked in Leonard's head, What if Penny is avoiding me because she's nauseous, but isn't sick? No, that can't be it, she would tell me if it was that. But, what if she didn't know how to tell me? What if she was worried about my reaction? What if she was worried about the show's reaction? What if…but…but, Leonard's fork stopped half-way to his mouth, not exactly sure what to do now.
Apt 314, 9:30 AM Wednesday Nov 7th 2012
Penny was ready, waiting for Jeanie. While she was still depressed, she had cried herself to sleep after all, she had gotten quite a bit of sleep and physically felt better. Of course, she still was very despondent about her situation, so she was still not fully feeling right.
She had gotten up at eight, got a shower and had even made some eggs and toast, and had spent the last 45 minutes, sipping on her coffee and going over her script, for the table read this morning.
Jeanie was there right at 9:30, and Penny packed her things, poured herself a travel mug of coffee and after shutting off the coffee machine, left with Jeanie for the studio. Upon arriving, Jim had reminded Penny there was another reporter coming to interview her today at one.
The table read went smoothly, they had finished by noon, and Penny told Jeanie to go ahead and leave, and she would see her tonight. Penny picked out a salad and some chicken, and took it to her dressing room, to eat, study her lines, and wait for the reporter.
At one, there was a knock on her door. Opening it, she found Tina and the reporter who was going to interview her, waiting. Penny invited them in and Tina introduced Penny to Bill Ambrose.
There was some small talk, and he explained that he was from the New York Post, and there was interest, from their readers, about the new actress, from a show that was actually being shot in New York. Penny mentioned there were other shows being shot in New York.
Bill explained that while the Law and Order Franchise shot here, along with a few other drama shows, there weren't any comedies, other than Major's Tales.
Penny nodded and Bill started asking questions. It was about an hour later, he said he was finished and he started packing up. Bill thanked Penny and Tina and left, and Tina told Penny she would see her tomorrow, and also left. Penny packed up her things, closed and locked her door, and headed back to her apartment.
Apt 601, 9:30 PM Wednesday Nov 7th 2012
Penny had gone to the Thai food place and brought it to Jeanie's apartment around six. They had eaten, cleaned up, then started going over their scripts, giving each other possible alternative readings, and reading lines opposite each other.
Jeanie had suggested they not drink any wine, telling Penny they should concentrate on the script. In reality, Jeanie was becoming concerned at how much Penny had been drinking and was trying to limit it.
They had finally stopped working on their script, and Penny had asked Jeanie how her mother was doing. Jeanie explained that her mother was recovering, and that she would be going to see her mother, and help around their house, over the weekend. She added that in another couple of weeks, her mother should be well enough so Jeanie would not have to go home to help.
Jeanie had wanted to ask Penny about her problems, but as she didn't seem to be feeling as bad, over the last couple of days, Jeanie let it go. She heard Penny's phone vibrate, saw Penny look at the phone, and then put it down. She looked at Jeanie, yawned and said, "I think it's time to go home and get to bed."
Penny started packing her things away, and took her glass to Jeanie's kitchen. Jeanie got up, walked Penny to the door, hugged her as they both said good night, and Penny left.
Apt 4A, 6:35 PM Wednesday Nov 7th 2012
Leonard heard his call to Penny go to voicemail, he waited for the beep and said, "Hi Penny, hope you're feeling better. If you aren't feeling well, please call me, I want to know what's wrong and maybe I can help. I wish you would call, I really miss talking to you. It really hurts me, not to talk to you. Please call me. I love you."
By the end of the message, Leonard sounded sad and hurt, and he disconnected and put his phone down on his desk. He was trying to figure out another reason for Penny not to answer, and to not call back. There has to be something. Leonard couldn't bring himself to believe that Penny was pregnant, and wouldn't tell him. It had to be something other than that, so he had put that reason out of his mind, and kept thinking.
But, what could it be? There has to be something to cause her not to want to talk to me. There, I said it. Penny doesn't want to talk to me, but I don't know why. Unless I can figure it out, we may end up talking less and less and just drift apart.
Leonard gave up, and turned on his computer. He had gotten some more data from a laser experiment run at the school, and he had to add it to the database. That was going to take several hours. So he went to the fridge, got some leftover Thai food and heated it up for his dinner.
He took it over to his desk, with a glass of tea, and started entering the new data, taking bites from the box of Thai food, as he did.
Studio 44, 9:45 AM Thursday Nov 8th 2012
Penny and Jeanie arrived at the studio, with Jeanie stopping at her dressing room, while Penny continued on toward the stairs. Near the bottom of the stairs, she saw Brent, surrounded by a group of about 5-6 other men. They were all looking at her as she walked by, but none of them said anything. She saw why as on the other side of Brent's group, were two of the make-up crew.
Penny went to her dressing room, unpacked her bag, then took her script and walked down to the floor. The group of men was gone, and she didn't think about it anymore. She went to get a coffee and met Jeanie there. They both went to their director chairs, as they waited for the producers and director, to start their work.
Jim, Kelli, Tina, and Steve all came walking out, Steve gave directions on what scenes they were going to do, and when, and everyone went to their starting places. Jeanie and Penny had quite a few scenes together this week. Penny imagining this was due to Jeanie being gone the previous two weeks.
The writers also hinted at the table read, that Jeanie would have more scenes over the next several weeks. The week after was probably going to be interactions with Brent and Dave's characters. They were trying to catch up on the plots they had planned, and they had told Penny, she may not have very many scenes the next week.
The first two scenes, had all four actors in them. She had another one with Jeanie, just before the halfway point of the show, and just before the break for lunch.
Her and Jeanie decided to go the CBS cafeteria, instead of getting their lunch from the craft services table. After an hour of eating, talking and catching up on their phones, they walked back to the set and prepared for the afternoon blocking.
Penny only had the first two afternoon scenes, both of them were with Jeanie, and Brent. She made it through, the blocking and then Steve told her she was done.
She told Jeanie that she would wait for her in her dressing room, and carrying her script, she headed for her dressing room. She climbed the stairs and just as she got to the top, Brent's door opened and Brent and one of the lighting guys came out.
Penny froze, for a second, then continued walking. She expected the two of them to do something, she just didn't know what. She continued walking, and they politely got out of the way, but they both were leering at Penny.
Penny got by them, when she heard a voice that wasn't Brent's, say, "Hey, Penelope."
Penny tried to ignore it, and continued walking. She was hoping to get into her dressing room, but before she could, she heard, "I need some help with the poles the lights hang from, and Brent here tells me you're pretty good moving up and down on a pole, and I was…"
Penny got to her door, entered and closed it. She was stunned and really didn't know what to do. Again, unlike this morning, she noticed that the only people around were the two of them.
Her eyes started filling with tears, and she didn't want to stay, because she didn't want to cry in her dressing room, and give Jeanie something to ask her about. She packed her things, put on her coat, closed and locked her door, then left for home, feeling she would be crying for the rest of the night.
Studio 44,4:30 PM Thursday Nov 8th 2012
Jeanie had finished with her blocking and had just packed all her things away, then climbed the stairs to get Penny. She knocked on her door, but there was no answer. She knocked again, and there was still no answer. She was getting ready to knock again, when Brent came out of his dressing room.
He looked at Jeanie and smirked at her, before turning and leaving. What the hell was that for? Jeanie wondered. She knocked again, and when there wasn't an answer, she checked the door and found it locked. Hmmmmm, I thought she said she would wait for me, I guess she left.
Jeanie left the studio for the walk home. Getting to the apartment building, she took the elevator to the third floor, went to Penny's door and knocked. She waited but there wasn't an answer. She tried again, but there still wasn't an answer.
She put her ear to the door, but she didn't hear anything, so she took the elevator to her floor, and went to her apartment. When she got there, she tried to call Penny, but the call went to voicemail. "Penny," said Jeanie, "Brent was acting a bit weird this afternoon. I was wondering if it's related to what happened when I was away. Give me a call when you get this."
Jeanie disconnected, put her phone down, and started working on her dinner.
Apt 314, 6:35 PM Thursday Nov 8th 2012
Penny was trying to study her script, but it was a struggle. She was sipping on a glass of wine, she had started drinking as soon as she had gotten home. She had also, off and on, been tearing up, because of what happened just before leaving work. She was thinking about how she hadn't talked to Leonard since Monday.
He had left a voicemail on Tuesday, knowing she usually went out, then another on Wednesday. That one tugged at her heart, hearing the sadness and hurt in Leonard's voice from not being able to talk to her. Hearing and thinking about that also caused her to tear up.
Penny had listened to Jeanie's phone message. She hadn't called Jeanie back, and now she was feeling guilty about not talking with Jeanie. She was going back and forth about telling Jeanie, but right now, she was more worried about Leonard, so her worry about Jeanie had been pushed to the back of her mind.
She was also having trouble because she had spent almost all of her scenes with Brent. At least it wasn't just the two of them, together. There were others in the all the scenes. Two of them were with all four actors, and two were just Jeanie, Penny and Brent.
But, spending all that time with Brent, even when there were others with them, had reminded her what had happened, and made her feel very bad about what she had done to Leonard, and continued to do to him, by not talking to him, All because she was afraid of letting something slip. But, even so, she expected another call from him tonight.
But, not wanting to talk to Leonard made her feel even more guilty in a different way. She was even more depressed because it didn't matter which way she thought about it, she felt guilty either way and she didn't see a way to do anything about it.
She was also reproaching herself, about what happened and kept telling herself, using several different ugly terms, how bad of a person she was. The encounter she had, just before she left the studio today, didn't help matters. And, with everything she was thinking about, she would start crying.
Penny decided it might be a good idea to get to bed early. She was thinking if she got to bed around 9:30 PM, she would probably miss any call from Leonard. She decided missing his call, was better than trying to talk to him, feeling as she did. She looked back down at her script, and turned the page.
Apartment 4A,6:30 PM Thursday Nov 8th 2012
Leonard had heard his call go to voicemail, and was at a loss as to what to say, so he hung up. He waited for 15 minutes and tried again, and when this call also went to voicemail, he had a message prepared.
"Penny, please, please give me a call. It's been four days since I talked to you. If you're still feeling bad, please let me know. I don't know why you don't want to talk to me. You don't answer, you don't call back, you don't respond to my texts. Something is wrong and I don't know what it is. Please, please tell me. Talk to me, please, you promised to talk to me if something was wrong. I love you, please call."
Leonard disconnected and looked at his phone, the hurt and pain were very noticeable in his voice. Something was wrong. Maybe she is pregnant. I want to ask her, but what if she isn't sure and wants to tell me herself? But, she should still talk to me. Why isn't she? What is wrong? Oh, please Penny talk to me. Suddenly another reason popped into his mine, What if she's seeing someone else?
He shook his head to clear it. He no longer cared about going to the comic book store. Someone else could bring Sheldon home. He despondently walked to his bedroom, closed his door, fell on his bed and just laid there, a new different thought running through his mind, until he fell asleep.
Apartment 314, 9:45 PM Thursday Nov 8th 2012
Penny was in bed, trying to get to sleep, when her phone rang. She knew, from the ringtone, that it, and the last one five minutes earlier, had been from Leonard. She hadn't answered either of them, and after the second one, she heard the tone telling her she had a voicemail. She had no interest in listening to the message, and just rolled over in bed. Why did't I got to bed earlier, or turn off my ring tones and notifications?
She felt worthless with what had happened, guilty about not talking to Leonard, victimized by her treatment by Brent. Not only was he harassing her about that night, he was evidently telling others about it and they were treating her just as badly.
What the hell good is it to be a star, if I'm not happy about it? I'm making all this money, and I have no time to spend it. I miss Leonard, but I'm afraid to talk to him, I miss my California friends, and I feel so lonely.
She just didn't know how to handle it, so she drank, which is why she was in bed, still rather tipsy. She was thinking about everything, the calls and messages from Leonard, what happened at work, not talking to Jeanie, and worst, her fucking Brent. All of this finally overwhelmed her and she could no longer hold it in. She began sobbing uncontrollably, until she had cried herself to sleep.