Chapter 5 - Eat
The chaotic clatter of pots and cookware, the heat of the convection ovens, it was all white noise to the bewildered pair.
Penny was so close she could feel the warmth of his body and see the similar shock mirrored in his eyes.
Whack-a-doodle! It was her whack-a-doodle. The greatest bakery with its famous cakes and patrons was run by none other than her peculiar, twitchy mentor and teacher. She, like many others was familiar with his story. He had been aiming to become the best baker in the world, but an error had made him falter at the finish line. To think he had been helping a nobody like her this entire time! Penny had regretted her earlier daydream. She couldn't believe she wanted to get him hired at his own shop! The green-eyed girl gasped at her foolishness.
Sheldon, even without his sensitive hearing, could clearly hear her sharp intake of breath. She was only a hand's width away.
She was standing so near he could touch her. He had wanted to touch her to make sure she wasn't a manifestation of weeks of wishful thinking. His blue eyes raked over her fair skin and smooth features. She was still the same, vanilla scented, joyful and her, just indescribable her.
Just one step forward.
Whirling around, Penny broke their searing, locked gaze, scrubbing her oven surface with a vengeance.
The tall baker could only respond in turn, pivoting on his heel and retreating to the back room in agitated silence.
Raj, frozen in shock, urgently whispered to Howard, "He didn't say anything negative about her! Do you think he has a thing?"
Leonard could only look at the murmuring pair with rising alarm.
As strange as Sheldon was, the man had a frightening knack for attracting pretty girls. Honestly that was the whole reason why the men – besides their head baker - managed to get involved with the baking industry. The ratio of girls to boys in a high school home economics class was 10 to 1. They just genuinely happened to fall in love with the craft as they (unsuccessfully) hit on girls.
Sheldon mumbled to himself, hidden in the backroom, as his lean fingers twitched against the wood surface of the desk. He had sworn by the entropy of the universe that life would ensure that he would never encounter the blonde again, only to find her just on the other side of the wall.
Focused and confident, she had come far from the subpar baker she had been before.
The hour was soon up. The trio entered the backroom in wariness, but after seeing Sheldon's determined expression began the task of eliminating applicants. They all compared notes arguing for one person or the other. Sheldon's comments were damning, the frivolous ones aside. A messy baker was a liability to them all.
Soon it was down to two entries.
Bernadette, head hostess at Gateau Affairs, handed two yellow cake slices anonymously marked "A" and "B." Howard gave her a surprisingly sincere smile as she left the room. The lecherous man never seemed as enthusiastic to pursue dates now that the high pitched blonde had hired on.
All four bakers whipped out their sample spoons.
Sample A was quite tasty. It seemed like the baker had formal culinary training, they hypothesized.
"Don't make any assumptions," Sheldon cautioned. The batter could have used another minute in the oven in his opinion.
They all took a portion of Slice B.
Three spoons dropped in shock.
"This tastes exactly like one of our cakes!" the trio exclaimed in shock.
"Did they steal our recipe?"
"Can't be. They're kept under lock and key. They must have had someone brilliant teaching them!"
Yeah, me! Sheldon snorted inwardly.
"So it's decided," Howard ventured. "We're going to hire whoever cooked Slice B."
Raj flipped over the cards labeling each sample.
Sheldon looked away with a stone face. He knew exactly who made the winning confection.
"'A' was Stuart Bloom, and "B" was-"
"-the blonde!" Howard interrupted over Raj's shoulder crowing in delight.
Three pairs of eyes glanced over at the shorter man. "Bernadette mentioned her name to me. They knew each other before working as waitresses at the Cheesecake Factory."
All of the men shuddered at that conglomeration's name. Restaurants like that threatened to put theirs out of business every day.
Leonard piped in, "If no one has any concerns about hiring her…" but the trio turned expecting faces to Sheldon.
Now that the identity was known, the stern man, as head baker still had the power of veto. He would never let a girl's looks or emotions cloud his judgment.
Sheldon contemplated their hopeful expressions. His stomach twisted in knots, and he clenched his hands against his sides. His compatriots, life, the universe, and everything had spoken. His mind and heart were also speaking, for once, in unison.
"Hire the girl," he hissed. Sheldon turned away delving into the bright glow of his laptop.
Nowhere near the brightness of her smile.
The boys whooped and cheered. Finally, a gorgeous girl was joining their team!
The head baker could still hear them as the boys rushed out of the room to announce the news that the position was filled and to congratulate the woman.
Strangely, the knot he had been holding within him for the past week finally loosened. His student baker was back in his life and in the best way possible.
The man waited approximately 12 minutes for each of his compatriots to proposition her (half the time for Raj's mutism, and twice as much for Howard's lack of tact) before he left his seat.
Sheldon approached the empty kitchen. Only the back of her diligently packing away her clean tools in its traveling case greeted his sight.
A folder, filled with plastic covered handwritten pages rested prominently open at her station. Within the booklet, he spotted a familiar yellow comment card taped onto the inside cover. She had kept his scathing barb after all this time.
The quiet taps of his footsteps alerted the blonde to his presence, but she didn't turn around still continuing to store her baking equipment.
"I hope you were duly compensated for your bakery burning down."
Penny sighed softly. So he did know what happened. "My insurance paid what it could with the lack of proof that Kurt set the fire."
Sheldon's eyes darkened, "Oh, he'll get what's coming to him."
It was with that statement that she reeled around.
"What did you have in mind?" Her bright eyes danced in anticipation.
Sheldon's eyebrow rose with intrigue. Could she be a welcomed addition to his prank wars?
Kripke better watch his back!
"I wonder if Kurt is as big a fan of seeing his undergarments spread out for all to see," he dryly remarked.
Penny laughed with complete abandon for the first time in weeks. For such a weirdo, he could really be sweet at times.
"You're always saving me," she murmured softly. "First my terrible cakes, then Kurt, now you're hiring me." Her eyes narrowed, "Did you know I was applying beforehand?"
He shook his head vigorously, "We don't let resumes determine who gets hired, only their baking skills alone. I had absolutely no input in your being hired today." The last he said with a telltale twitch. Sheldon could never lie convincingly.
Yes, the head baker didn't know which cake was hers exactly. She had made it into the final two on her own, but his was the final decision that hired her on.
He could argue that employing her was a justification for diversity in the work place, or cite her experience and people skills, but he'd be fooling only himself.
Penny studied him. Okay he was lying, but as always, it was with a good heart. She told herself he didn't need to save her anymore, but she wouldn't deny what an opportunity this would be. Working at Gateau Affairs would be a real jump start to her baking career. She could still give people happiness with her cakes without the stress and cost of running her own shop by herself. The boys seemed nice to work with (though that one in the skinny pants, she'd have to watch out for).
"Sheldon, Sheldon Cooper," he introduced himself, but it was obvious she knew who he was now.
"Penny Lane." She offered a hand, but drew back remembering his distaste at touching.
As he committed her name to his eidetic memory, Sheldon thought how much Penny had changed him, so much so he would have been willing to chance the germs to make sure she was not a dream before him.
"Sheldon… Chef Cooper," she faltered.
"Sheldon is fine," he said humbly. Chef Cooper always reminded him of forced teaching classes with green students and bored housewives.
"Sheldon, do you want me to work for you? I mean, there's always Kripke's."
"No!" he blurted out. "They're much more inferior, and the head baker is arrogant, long winded, and a pain in the…"
"Sounds like someone I know," the girl remarked with a grin. Penny had to agree though. Gateau Affairs was number one in everyone's opinion.
He ignored the slight with a huff. "We can do great things together. I want you to work with me. I wanted you to work with me earlier, but you had a bakery of your own. I couldn't ask you to give that up."
A brief pause of indecision from her still, but he knew how to persuade her. Sheldon turned offhandedly remarking, "There's a bride who wants a five tier mousse style cake, and I can't get it structurally stable…"
The pretty blonde took the bait, her face lighting up with possibilities.
Before she could blurt out her ideas, Sheldon held up a hand, "I'll see you promptly at 8 am, Monday. No throat punches."
Penny squirmed in excitement, "I'll be there!"
There it was - another blinding smile to delight Sheldon's eyes.
He nodded, and both went their separate ways. This parting was as alike as the ones before, yet it was so much different, so much improved.
They knew each other's identities this time. They knew each other's dreams.
Sheldon Cooper had tried to help pretty Penny with hers, but failed. Maybe she could help him with his instead.
Whatever the outcome, their newfound dream together was sure to be a start of a culinary masterpiece.
Alright, I didn't mean to wait so long to post this last chapter. I don't do Leonard bashing, and I try to keep everyone happy. As always the original source material is Gateau Affairs and the Big Bang Theory tv show. There's a continuation story possible based on if I can keep their characters intact.
Please review!
Grigard