Here's another extremely short chapter for you but I wanted to get something out for you all. School is officially over and now I will have more time to write! :)

And to all of you who are mothers, Happy Mother's Day! :)

Chapter Thirty-Four

Penny read the script until the lines began to blur and her eyes closed in fatigue. It had been a long few days and lying in bed, going over lines, probably wasn't the smartest thing to do. She set the script to the side and curled more into her bed,deciding that she needed a nap. Texting Sheldon before her eyes closed for good, she asked him to come over for dinner and he had replied that he would.

Penny smiled before succumbing to sleep. Her dreams were filled with stage lights and a handsome man sitting front row with stunning blue eyes.

An hour later, her alarm went off. She forced herself not to hit the snooze button and threw on some presentable clothes. A quick drive to the store was needed. Her fridge was still empty from before she had left for Europe. She returned a half hour later, arms laden down with groceries.

She decided she would make spaghetti with hotdogs cut up, knowing that it was Sheldon's favorite. She had even bought a bottle of wine, though she knew Sheldon probably wouldn't take a glass of it.

When Sheldon finally arrived, he gave Penny a bright smile and a kiss. "The letter to Meemaw has been written and sent," he said. "I should hear from her in a few days." Penny could tell that he was excited to hear from his grandmother and she found it adorable.

"That's great! Now, would you like to have a seat? I made your favorite." She had actually put a tablecloth on her small table and set a candle in the middle to make it more romantic. It didn't matter that both of them were in casual clothes. It still set the mood, much like their dinner in Paris had.

After eating and enjoying a nice conversation, they cleared off the table and washed the dishes. "Would you like to run some lines, Penny?"

Penny had almost completely forgotten she had asked Sheldon to do that with her. "Sure! Let me go grab the script and you can look it over while I clean the stove." She tried her hands on a towel and went to her room to retrieve the script still on her bed.

"Here you go," she said and handed it to Sheldon. He took it and sat down on the couch to read it while Penny went to wet a sponge for the stove.

"Hmm," he said after a while. "This story isn't very happy, Penny." He flipped to the last page and his eyes grew wide. "And your character dies at the end from a overdose."

Penny shrugged. "I know. But it's just a character that I'll be playing. Plus, she does get her man...at least for a little bit." She watched as Sheldon flipped back several pages.

"She does. But Carlton leaves her because of the drugs." He set the script down on the coffee table, looking upset. "I don't know if I'm going to enjoy watching you in this play, Penny. Fictional or not, it's still going to be hard to watch you 'die' on stage."

"But you'll be there?" She asked, hopefully.

"Of course! A boyfriend supports his girlfriend, does he not?" A small wrinkle formed in the middle of his eyebrows as he looked over at Penny. "Especially when he is extremely proud of her."

It took everything in Penny to not pounce on Sheldon right then and smother him with kisses. Instead, she took a seat next to him and tilted his head, so she could kiss him properly. He eagerly returned it, getting much better at kissing.

"Thank you, Sheldon," she said and pulled away. "For everything."

"Penny, you were there for me when I was still...dealing with things from the Arctic. I know that I can be difficult, sometimes-"

"Only sometimes?" Penny interrupted with a wink.

Sheldon rolled his eyes and continued, not minding the interruption. "Like I was saying, though I can be difficult, you were always there for me and for that, I was glad." He reached for her hand and squeezed. "I am glad that you accompanied me to Europe. At first, I wanted you to go so that I could repay for you for everything you've done for me, but then I found that I quite enjoyed your company. A lot. As you can see." He indicated to their clasped hands.

"Why are you so sweet?"

"My Meemaw taught me well."

"Ah, Penny. It is so nice to see you, again." Ashley Roche was the first to greet her when she came to the theater for rehearsals. Unable to sleep well the night before because of excitement, Penny had gotten up early and had arrived an hour before she was asked. No one else had been there except for the directors and Ashley.

"It's nice to see you, too." She shook the other woman's hand. "I'm sorry I'm here so early. I was a little excited to start."

"Oh, no need to apologize. In fact, if you come with me, we can go over those changes I told you about on the phone."

"Great!"

Penny followed Ashley through a few short hallways and they finally came to a door that led into a small office. Ashley to the seat in front of the desk and motioned for Penny to take the one across from her, which she did with smile.

"Now, have you taken a look at the script, yet?"

"Yes. Actually, I started to memorize some parts...which probably wasn't a good idea, since there's changes."

"We're not changing much except the ending." Ashley rummaged in her desk and produced a stack of papers. "We decided that too many plays nowadays seem to have tragic endings, so we decided to not kill off Jenny. Instead, she gets the help she needs, gets clean, lands her first role on Broadway, a small part though and gets her man."

"Carlton?" Penny asked, hopefully. After reading the script, she had come to like the man that Jenny would fall in love with and thought they she deserved him.

"Of course. There is no other man for her. So, how does that sound?"

"Perfect. My boyfriend was worried about seeing me die on stage and now, he won't have to."

"Well he'll be happy to see you perform." Ashley smiled. "Jenny is going to get redemption. She's going to prove that girls from a small town with big dreams can achieve those dreams and overcame almost nearly impossible obstacles."

Penny felt as if the other was speaking to her and not about Jenny and it made her even more excited to play the part. Being on that stage in front of hundreds would validate her leaving home early in search of stardom. Of course, she was nowhere near being an A-list actress...yet, but this was a step in the right direction.

Thanks for reading!