Chapter 25 - Adjusting to Problems
Penny noticed the change immediately, when she walked into the studio, the people she worked with seemed extremely subdued and quiet, this was not what she was use to seeing from the previous week. She slowly got a cup of coffee and bear claw, looking and finally spotting Carol sitting at a table in the corner of the room by herself, she directly went over to sit with her. "Hey girl, did you have a good weekend?" Penny asked cheerfully as soon as she sat down.
Carol looked around, then at Penny, "Is Leonard with you?"
Penny shook her head, "No I'm winging it alone today."
Carol nodded then looked back at her coffee, now really making Penny wonder what is going on. "Carol, is something wrong."
Carol took a big breath, then looked at Penny, "Yeah, everyone is on edge because we didn't finish the episode last week."
"You're kidding!" That news really surprised Penny.
Carol shook her head, "Nope, we were at it till 10 PM on Friday and only got one scene finished, sort of. We never got to the second scene."
"Sort of?" Penny prodded.
Carol nodded again, "Yeah, nobody liked the scene when we finished. The director said it wasn't funny to the producer and then said they needed a rewrite. The producer said there wasn't going to be a rewrite and that the director should have done a better job directing. We were sent home and they were arguing when we left."
"Holy Crap on a Cracker." Penny was shocked.
"Yeah…..what you said." Carol agreed.
"So what is going to happen now." Penny asked
"That is what everyone is wondering, do we re-shoot the scene again or do we just go on with the final scene and if we do, when do we do that, today?" Carol again sighed then shrugged.
"Wow." Penny said her mouth in an fixed 'O' and her eyes wide.
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It was late lunch time when Penny got to talk to Carol again, that morning being completely different than anything she was use to. They did get the new script and did look over it together, but then most of the cast was told to get ready to do the final scene, while her and the remaining cast went through the script in a table read. So after running the scene all morning, Carol looked wore out, and the nosiness in Penny had to know what was going on. "Sweetie, how did the scene go?"
"Like Shit. We did several takes, then they decided to do another rewrite and sent us to lunch." Carol sighed, she was doing a lot of that lately.
"Again? What was wrong now." Penny asked
"Just like Friday, the director said it wasn't funny then he argued with the producer again until he agreed to re-look at the script." Carol said in disgust.
"What is going on?" Penny said, confusion in her voice.
Carol looked Penny right in the eyes, "Penny you know those scenes are suppose to be funny, but everything is a mess, timing is off and the scenes just don't come out funny, they just come out like crap."
Penny looked down, "Oh."
Carol was upset and couldn't hold it in any longer. "Penny they are screwing you over, those scenes were made for you and me, it is so freaking obvious to everyone, but that asshole producer is tanking the scenes just to keep you out of them. They keep trying to put you lines into other characters mouths and it is just not working, it actually is terrible."
"But I didn't do anything to cause it." Penny tried to defend herself.
Carol wanted to say, 'Yeah you did, you got pregnant and it is obvious the Producer is pissed about you getting pregnant on his show.' but she didn't, Penny was actually her best friend on the set, so instead, "I know you didn't do anything, it is just they are screwing up the show."
Penny just nodded, they didn't say much more about it during lunch and after they finished, Carol went back to the set, while Penny and the others practiced a couple very small scenes, they would be in. Some how that day, being an actress didn't seem to be that much fun anymore to Penny, it actually was a little depressing. There was so little to do that afternoon she felt her mind wondering back to Leonard, thinking of him actually helping her get through the day.
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The afternoon meeting of the Physics department started about two in the afternoon, with Dr Gablehauser running it and Leonard at his side. Everybody was there, except for a couple professors who had classes, and each of them was interested why a meeting had been called so suddenly without any notice. Sheldon especially felt put out, he considered his work to be most important and meetings like this just a waste of time. However he was surprised to see Leonard up front with Gablehauser, until he rationalized this was probably a meeting to say good-bye to him, which again he thought was a waste of his time.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, as some of you know Dr Hofstadter has returned to us after spending most of the last semester at Cambridge working with Dr Hawking on his research data generated from the North Sea expedition." Several of the professors nodding to Gablehauser's words.
"And through the rumor mill, you have probably heard that Cambridge has tried to entice Dr Hofstadter from Cal Tech, also." That statement got more head nods and a murmur when through the assembled crowd.
"Well I'm proud to say Cambridge lost out and Dr Hofstadter will remain with us for at least the next three years." Gablehauser's words brought clapping from the crowd, most of the people at Cal Tech liked Leonard, not only because of his easy going personality but because he somewhat controlled Dr Cooper who everyone mostly avoided.
Gablehauser let the enthusiasm die down before continuing. "Also, I hope you will also congratulate Dr Hofstadter, because he has been appointed Deputy Dean for the Physics Department as of today." Gablehauser watched as the information sunk into the crowd before the clapping started again and faculty members now started to come to congratulate him. He had worried a little about the older members of the faculty not being on board with this, but they seemed genuinely happy for Leonard.
"NO!" Suddenly everything stopped and every eye in the room turned to Dr Cooper.
Gablehauser frowned at Cooper, "Dr Cooper do you have something to say?"
"This is absurd, Dr Hofstadter is not qualified!" Sheldon blurted out.
Leonard stared at Sheldon, he wasn't really surprised by his outburst, Sheldon had put him down since the first day he met him. Honestly, after Sheldon had purposely tortured him with that sweater, over a year ago, he had wondered if Sheldon had ever really been his friend. The more he thought about it, all Sheldon did was use him, and he never let friendship ever come in the way of his personal wants and goals. Leonard was done with him, today only confirmed what had building in him for over a year, Sheldon Cooper was a liability to his life.
"Dr Cooper, please refrain from any other comments." Gablehauser said sternly.
"I will not, Dr Hofstadter isn't fit to manage a monkey house and although you are all no better than baboons yourself, I will not be directed by lesser minds." Sheldon said with indignation.
"Fine Dr Cooper, would you prefer to be suspended, until a peer review board can take up your concerns." Gablehauser said flatly.
"Sir, I have no peers." Sheldon responded.
Gablehauser was now pissed, "Dr Cooper, I want to talk to you immediately, outside please!"
Sheldon looked at him and was about to say something, but thought better of it. He then started to follow Gablehauser but turned, "This is not over." He was looking at Leonard when he said it.
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"The nerve of them." Sheldon stated, he had been ranting all the way back to the apartment about what happened that afternoon.
Amy didn't know what to say, from what Sheldon had told her, he had disrupted the whole meeting and basically called everyone there a substandard mind. Yes she believed that Sheldon had a higher IQ than any of them, but they were all smart people, so calling them substandard was a huge insult. She wanted to support him but, "Sheldon, maybe you shouldn't have said something at your meeting."
"Amy, I had something important to say and they needed to hear it." Sheldon replied dismissively.
Amy had nothing more to offer, so she just drove in quiet.
Sheldon was also quiet as he thought about what had happened today, especially about Leonard, who he now considered on his enemy list. Leonard was a second rate mind as far as Sheldon was concerned, a minion that rode his coat tails for almost ten years. Now he had weaseled his way to being Hawking's minion, the whole time impressing the lesser minds that he was some kind of real scientist, instead of the poor facsimile he really was. 'Well that was going to change', Sheldon thought.
Sheldon was not going to let Leonard raise the next Homo Novus now residing inside of Penny, it was bad enough that a simpleton like Penny would be his baby's biological mother, he was not allowing a second rate mind to assist her in raising the child. Gablehauser had put him on vacation the rest of the week to 'Get a hold of himself', so Sheldon was going to do just that, he was going to get a hold of himself, Penny and Leonard. He already had an idea what to do and this week was perfect time to implement that idea, so in reality Gablehauser had done him a favor and Leonard and Penny would soon find out why.
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Leonard drove home trying to relax before he saw Penny, she didn't need to know the drama between him and Sheldon, she had more than enough things to get over without him unloading more on her. Things were getting more comfortable and relaxed between them and he didn't want to do anything to disrupt that now or in the future. Besides this was a school problem between him and Sheldon, it didn't include his and Penny's relationship, so he didn't want it to cause more problems between them all. Leonard sighed, he was actually feeling a little better settling this all in his mind and now started to think about his evening with Penny and how happy he would be to see her after this crazy day he had.
Penny was on the road, heading back to the apartment at the same time as Leonard, her mind filled with the events of the day too. Penny was also thinking about not telling Leonard how weird her day had been today, their group of actors being divided into two groups, one group trying to finish the scenes from last episode and her group going over the next script. She also didn't want to tell Leonard that the group still doing last weeks scenes where the main cast and she was not part of them anymore. The script this week made it clear to Penny that she was being written off the show, because her character was to announce to her group that she had been offered an incredible job offer, out of town, which was obvious to Penny, meant off the show.
That night turned out to be very quiet for both of them, sitting in front of the TV and eating take out, while both of them were thinking about their days. It was actually a comfortable silence, the both of them with a blanket over them, Penny snuggled up to Leonard, was relaxing for both of them, so they didn't even notice that they weren't talking they were both so immersed in their thoughts. It was when they finally went to sleep that Penny decided she didn't really care what happened on the set anymore, as she laid on Leonard's chest listening to his heartbeat. She was happy and she was pregnant, Leonard showed her how they could move into the new apartment and with his increased salary, still having plenty of money to live, which made her feel secure. Really, Penny concluded, she had no worries except for carrying the baby inside her, so she put aside the day and cuddled Leonard a little more, a content sigh leaving her lips as she closed her eyes and fell fast to sleep.
Penny's movement to get more comfortable on him, made Leonard stop thinking about anything but Penny, he still felt he was the luckiest man alive that Penny had chose him. She was a beautiful person inside, so full of love, and she made each day a joy to live with her. With those thoughts, Leonard gently rubbed her back, getting a soft sigh from her, making him feel happy inside, so he closed his eyes to fall asleep soon after her.