Sheldon tried to put both women out of his mind. He was disconcerted to realize his neighbor seemed to stare at him if they met in the hallway. She was a beautiful woman, but he had no time for such nonsense. Penny tended to plague his thoughts, also. The second week he had admired her Borg Queen outfit. She had joked and said it was her least favorite because the straps cut into her skin. He had frowned at the marks it had indeed left behind. The week after that she was T'Pol from Star Trek Enterprise. He had blushed a deep red when he walked in. She was bent over a box of action figures and her bottom was displayed prominently. He then frowned when he saw the way his friends ogled her. Last week she had been Harley Quinn. Sheldon blushed as he remembered her smile when she called him Mr. BMG again.

All through lunch he had heard the others talking excitedly about seeing her again. It seemed Raj, Howard and Leonard had been to the comic shop on two other occasions without him. She had worked neither night. From Stuart they had learned she was a seamstress for a couple of local theaters, and only worked for him two nights a week on Wednesdays and Thursdays. She was from somewhere in the Midwest and single. When they weren't mooning over Penny, Leonard was going on about their neighbor, Rene, and how sexy she was.

As they pulled up to the shop, Sheldon told himself he was not looking forward to seeing her again. He was only excited by the possibility of new comics. He ignored the twitching over his eye. The store was a bit crowded. There were a few new faces browsing the tables. Sheldon couldn't help looking over at the counter briefly. He was forced to look a second time, in surprise. She had the same Lenore tattoo on her arm that their neighbor had.

She was dressed as Jessica 6 from Logan's Run. She was chatting with Lonely Larry as she rang up his comics. His neighbor. Sheldon walked over to stand beside the counter and glared at her as she finished with the customer. She turned and smiled at him. He narrowed his eyes. She smirked and leaned her hip on the counter.

"Why didn't you say anything, Rene?" he asked sternly.

She laughed smugly. "Rene is my middle name. I'm sorry for the deception. I thought at first you recognized me, but you didn't say anything. Since then we haven't exactly seen each other except in passing, or here and well, I figured I would see how long it took you to figure it out," she explained.

Just then Leonard interrupted. "Penny? You're Rene?" She turned, but not before Sheldon saw the quick flash of discomfort.

"Hello, Leonard." she said passively.

Leonard gaped at her. "Why didn't you tell me it was you working here?"

Penny frowned. "I figured you knew. Especially after you asked me if I was working tonight."

Leonard blushed and tilted his head back. "Oh, I was going to ask if you wanted to have dinner with us. I didn't know it was you here. You're costumes are very good. It's hard to tell it was you."

Howard and Raj moved closer and stared at her. Sheldon started to move away but stopped as Leonard asked Penny if she had any plans for Friday. She tilted her head and nibbled on her lower lip.

"I'm going out with my friend Amy, around 9," she said. "Why?"

"Oh," Leonard said, "I was thinking that maybe you would like to have Chinese food with us. We usually eat around 7. You'd have plenty of time before you go out."

When he thought about it later, Sheldon wasn't sure what made him do it. "Penny, please don't be late. If you aren't there promptly at 7 there is no guarantee you will get a spring roll."

Penny smiled at Sheldon, eyes dancing with humor. "Yes sir, BMG." The others looked at him in confusion, but Sheldon only nodded and went off in search of some comics.