Caught Off-guard
Sequel to Perfect REM Sleep
It was Thursday and Penny was pissed. She was livid. She was….scared. She sat at the bottom of the steps in the lobby and stared at her paycheck. Her last paycheck. When she had walked in, the boss had asked her to come into the office. Penny hadn't been worried. She hadn't been late in over a month, her section was well taken care of. She had no problems with her co-workers. Then the bomb dropped on her. The manager was cutting back on staff. Business was dropping and she was letting Penny go. She had Penny's very last check already made out. They were even paying her for that day even though she wasn't working.
What in the bloody hell was she going to do now? She could barely make her bills as it was. Penny groaned. And what was she going to tell Sheldon? Penny shoved the pay check into her pocket. Okay, first things first. In two hours Sheldon and Barry were going to be here. Melissa was due shortly after that. She had dinner to cook and an evening of bowling to prepare for.
Note to self, Penny thought. Never ever take Sheldon and Barry to a bowling alley again together. Or possibly any sport. Not even Chucky Cheese just to be safe. They could not resist competing against one another. At first it was cute the way they squared off. The trash talk was more humorous than intimidating. The not-so-fun part came from the way they criticized her and Melissa. Neither girl was a pro bowler, but they weren't half bad either. Unfortunately the man were so determined to win, they wanted perfection. Finally after the eighth time Sheldon said "You're hooking too much!" she hooked him the bird. Then she and Melissa left. They walked across the street to a coffee shop to cool off.
Melissa smiled wryly. "Thanks for getting us out of there. I was about ready to fling Barry down the lane."
Penny nodded. "Yep," she said popping the P. "I was starting to imagine the pins were Sheldon."
"At least the dinner was nice, though," Melissa said. Penny gave her a tired smile. "Hey, are you okay? You seem kind of worried. I'm sure the guys will be alright."
Penny sighed. "I got fired today. Cut backs at work. I haven't told Sheldon yet, but I don't know what I'm going to do. Jobs are pretty scarce right now with the economy."
"Sheldon mentioned to Barry you are an actress, too. Can that support you?"
Penny bit her lip and looked across the street. "Actually, I only ever had one commercial and a play that closed the first night. I haven't been on an audition in months. See, I realized that it was not panning out, so I stopped. I've been looking into taking an on-line course in writing, but no one else knows."
Melissa's eyes lit up. "That's wonderful! Have you thought about enrolling in real life college classes?"
Penny snorted. "I definitely can't afford that now. And my grades were never good enough for grants. I don't want a loan, they're too hard to pay back."
Just then, they saw the guys exit the bowling alley, so they left the coffee shop and met them at the car. Barry and Sheldon were both staring at the pavement when the girls approached. They looked up with sorry eyes and the girls couldn't help it. Sheldon and Barry looked so pitiful.
"Come on, you two. Let's go get some ice cream." Melissa said.
"And no more bowling for either of you," Penny said sternly.
She put off telling him until Sunday. "Sheldon?"
"Hmm?" He didn't look up from his laptop where he was busy playing WoW.
"Sheldon, I need to talk to you," she said gently.
"Penny I am checking my supplies. I will be done in about an hour."
"I got fired. I have to move."
"….."
Sheldon paced his room furiously. Penny was impossible! He just did not understand her! She had no job, so the obvious solution was for her to move in with him. Leonard could move out and she would take his room. Sheldon made enough that he did not have to have a room mate, he just preferred one. She said no.
He offered to pay her rent. She said no.
He offered to give her a loan, she said no.
Her reasoning was that it was time she grew up and took responsibility for her life. She was not going to be kept like a mistress, and besides, taking his money would strain their relationship. He clenched his hands into fists. What kind of strain would it place on them when she was back in Nebraska? Finally he had stormed out and now here he was, pacing like a caged animal. What could he do? He had to solve this, because he was not about to let Penny leave him.
She slept badly. Sheldon was upset with her, he might even have broken up with her. She wasn't sure because Sheldon didn't do things the normal way in a relationship. So when he stormed off last night and said he'd had enough she wasn't sure if he meant the argument or the dating. She wasn't about to ask, either. She couldn't take any more disasters.
She showered and dressed. It was almost 9am. Sheldon would be at work by now. For once she almost wished Bernadette didn't drive him to work anymore. It would have given her a chance to talk to him, maybe make up. When her phone rang just before eleven, she jumped at it, hoping it was Sheldon. Nope.
"Hello, Melissa."
"Hello, Penny. Are you busy?"
She laughed bitterly. "Nope. Not at all."
"I think I might have a solution for that." Melissa sounded excited. "Can you come to the university? There's someone I want you to meet."
"What's this about, Melissa?" Penny asked, already reaching for her keys.
"A paycheck. Interested?"
Penny tried to contain the hope in her as she promised to be right there. In minutes she was fighting the traffic toward Cal-Tech.
It took her several minutes to locate the English Department, and a few more minutes after that to find Melissa's office. She knocked and tried to look calm. Melissa opened the door with a wide smile and ushered her in. Penny looked at the gentleman sitting in the far chair and almost fainted.
"Please, dear. Have a seat," the gentleman said kindly as he rose. "I promise I'm not going to bite."
Penny stuck out her hand awkwardly and stammered out a greeting. Her eyes swung over to Melissa who smiled with delight.
"Penny, allow me to introduce you to my uncle. This is George Takei. Uncle George, this is my friend Penny Queen."
Penny shook his hand reverently. Sheldon may be a Nimoy fan, but Penny had a soft spot for Sulu. He could fence, after all and Penny had a thing for swashbucklers or archers. Robin Hood and Jack Sparrow made her drool.
"Penny, Uncle George is a man of many talents. He has a lot of different projects going on at all times. And his person assistant just got married and is moving away." Melissa smiled. "So when he told me he was looking to find a grad student to help out until he found a more permanent solution, I called you."
Penny's jaw dropped. "Me? I've never been an assistant before. I don't even know what an assistant does."
George smiled. "Can you type?" Penny nodded.
"Can you take messages?" Another nod.
"Can you schedule appointments?" Penny smiled and nodded again.
"Now, for the hard one. Can you make tea?" Penny laughed with delight.
"Yes I can. But surely there is more to it than that?"
George nodded. "You would need to handle my correspondence, accompany me to business meetings, and on occasion there is a bit of travel involved, such as when I go to Comi-con in July. But, I am a homebody for the most part, so your hours would usually be from 7am until 6pm. After that I like to be with Brad, my husband."
Penny wondered how he would react if she got down on the floor and kissed his ring. Then she remembered what she had said to Sheldon. It was time to be an adult. "Okay, first, how much do you pay, do you offer benefits, and when can I start?"
George laughed loudly. "I pay $15 an hour. I do provide health insurance for all my employees. You can start next Monday." He handed her a card with an phone number and address on the back. "I will courier you the forms for your employment. You can bring them with you next week. We will give this a trial run of say, …a month. Then we will see how it is working out."
Penny and Melissa stood as he did. A short round of goodbyes and he left. Penny flopped back down on the chair and stared at Melissa. "I don't…you just….how can I ever repay you?!"
Melissa smiled sweetly. "You don't have to. I helped my uncle, and my friend all in one fell swoop. I feel like a super hero,' she laughed.
Penny grabbed her up in a hug. "You are a hero! My hero!"
Melissa patted her back. "Now, I saw the way Dr. Cooper came storming into the building this morning. Why don't you go spread some cheer his way."
Penny practically sprinted out the door, leaving her friend to smile knowingly.
Raj, Howard and Leonard were sitting in the cafeteria. A few tables away were Barry and Sheldon. They all looked up in shock as Penny came bursting in. She spotted Sheldon immediately and raced over. Sheldon had stood up as soon as he saw Penny. He feared the worst considering how they had parted the night before. Suddenly he found a warm wiggling Penny wrapped around him. Her arms encircled his neck and she dangled there for a moment. He grabbed her hips to hold her steady as she pulled back a little and kissed him. Sheldon blushed bright red at the cat calls that erupted.
Penny giggled as she slid from his body. She turned and gave a quick kiss to Barry's cheek. "You give that to Melissa for me." Then she tugged Sheldon from the room toward his office. She ignored his protests as she pulled him along. When they reached his office, she shoved him inside and closed the door.
"Penny, I must insist you explain yourself." He tried to sound stern, but he was just so glad to see her.
She thrust the card into his hands and clasped hers in front of her chest. She watched the way his expression went from confused, to awed to confused again. He looked up at her and she burst out her news.
"George Takei just hired me to be his person assistant!"
Sheldon jerked her against him and buried his face in her hair. She melted in his arms and sighed. "Sheldon, can you believe it? I'm going to be his P.A.! It pays almost twice what I was making before, has health insurance and best of all? I'm going to accompany him to comic-con! I'll be working, you know, but I'll be there with you in the evenings!"
All Sheldon could think of was that she wasn't leaving. She wasn't moving, and he had her in his arms right now. Sheldon moved his lips to hers for a moment. He hugged her close and trialed tiny kisses down her neck.
A knock on his door broke them apart. Sheldon frowned as he withdrew his arms. He opened the door to see President Seibert standing there. From the corner of his eye he saw Leonard scurry off. He knew immediately why Seibert was visiting. "Yes?"
"Dr. Cooper, I thought I'd just check up on you. I heard there was a bit of a commotion in the cafeteria."
Penny stepped closer. "I apologize for that. I just got a new job and couldn't wait to tell Sheldon about it. I sort of dragged him off in a hurry." Seibert smile benignly at Penny. He had taken a liking to her at the banquet. She had a way of keeping Cooper in line.
"Ah, Ms. Queen. A pleasure as always. I offer my congratulations on your new job. May I ask what it is?"
She smiled widely. "I am George Takei's new personal assistant. I start on Monday!"
Seibert smiled widely. "That is quite an achievement. Mr. Takei is a large donor to our language arts department." He turned to Sheldon who was beaming down at Penny with pride. "Dr. Cooper, this is a special occasion. I suggest you take the rest of the day off and celebrate with this lovely young woman."
Sheldon looked at him with surprise and then nodded. "Thank you, President Seibert. I believe I will."
Seibert said his goodbyes and walked back to his office deep in thought. Hofstadter had misled him into thinking Cooper was engaged in illicit activities in his office. Of course his first thought was lasers and world domination, but now he realized Hofstadter meant something else. He really must find a way to deal with this situation soon.