Chapter 29 - Trouble in Paradise
Amy sat there quietly while Sheldon watched his show, she had very mixed emotions after Sheldon told her about the day he had. Her strongest emotion was one of compassion for her boyfriend, she loved him, so when he bad a day it hurt her almost as much as him. Amy understood Sheldon was a unique individual and it was one of the reasons she loved him so much, people just didn't understand him like she did and it really bothered her when they were mean to him. She scooted closer to him and he naturally put his arm around her, it was something he had been doing now without hesitation since she started spending the nights there.
Amy looked up at him, "I'm sorry Sheldon."
Sheldon turned from the TV and looked down at her, "You have nothing to be sorry about Amy, it was not you who gave me trouble today. If anything it is you who gives me comfort after my day." he gave her a small squeeze and a half smile, she was the only one who really understood his point of view and he did appreciate her. Her smile back and slight nod let him know it was okay to look back at the TV.
Sheldon's smile and squeeze warmed Amy to her core, his ability to touch her seemed to come easier to him every day. It showed her that he did love her and that brought her guilt because of another emotion she had about Sheldon's day, she was glad that Sheldon had not obtained a lawyer. She knew Sheldon, Penny and Leonard were all very emotional right now and were not acting like the friends they were, so elevating this to a legal matter was something she felt was going too far. She knew Penny well enough that she would not keep Sheldon completely separated from his baby and Leonard would do what was right too, she just knew it.
Amy also felt tired, she also missed her girlfriends, and she knew the problem was she blamed herself for all that happened. The knowledge that she was the most sober and was at least a little in control would weigh on her for a very long time, especially if something bad happened from Penny's pregnancy. Leonard coming back to Penny helped her cope with her self blame, but Sheldon's obsession now with the baby, was making her feel really bad again. She was going to have to help him and guide him to do the right thing and when the baby was determined to be his, she would have to get Penny and Leonard to do the right thing too.
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They completed the scene on the third take, the first take completely ruined when several actors broke up at the banter between Penny and Carol's characters. The second take wasn't bad but the director wanted to do it again after a couple actors got off on their timing. The third take was perfect and it was like everyone knew it before the director smiled and told them 'good work'. They all rushed off to either change wardrobe or get makeup for the last scene, Penny going to get cleaned up to leave, feeling good about being in at least one big scene.
Penny never got past makeup, before one of the writers stopped her, "Here are your lines." he said while pushing a couple script pages in her hands.
"My lines?" Penny asked confused.
"Yes for the next scene." the writer told her in a tone like she should know all about it.
"Okay." Penny didn't know what else to say and as the writer walked off, she just looked at the script. It was just a few lines, but it was obviously for a very funny part in the scene. It took Penny a second to realize that this would put her in the two biggest scenes in the episode, completely different from the week before. It also made her realize what was missing that day, the producer had not been there all afternoon or evening. She remembered seeing him that morning with a man in a very fine suit that someone said was from the network. They had been smiling and talking to each other for a while, then before she was suppose to go home, before lunch, they were gone and that was when she was given more lines and scenes. Everybody had been happy today, even the director, who she had seen argue with the producer several times, and it made her wonder, was the producer being gone the reason she was being used more in the show? It was something she needed to think about, but not right now, because now she had to get ready to act, so he went to makeup and wardrobe to get ready.
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The drive home for Penny was pleasant, the traffic had died down some rush hour, because it was after 8 PM, and the trip went smoothly. She had been thinking about what happened at work today, still slightly confused about the changes in the script that got her more scene time. However everybody seemed so happy today that she couldn't help feeling good too, especially after getting the last scene done in two takes to the obvious pleasure of the director, who told them all they had done an excellent job that day. Everybody wanted to go out and party after that, but after calling Leonard to tell him she was coming home, she absolutely knew the place she wanted to be tonight, was with him. The closer she got to their apartment the greater the longing she had to be in his arms.
While Penny drove the last few minutes to the apartment, Leonard put the finishing touches on the little welcome he had for her. He had just got finished filling the bathtub with steaming hot water and bubbles, and now was setting the table with the Chinese food Penny seemed to have a craving for the last couple of weeks, and he had just got everything on the table when the front door opened and in walked the woman who always made his breath catch when he first saw her.
"Sweetie, I'm home." Penny said in a sing song voice, obviously in a very good mood.
Leonard smiled, "Yes I see. Are you hungry?"
"I am starved, we worked through dinner and…Oh my God Leonard!… Did you get Chinese!" Penny quickly smelled the food that made her mouth water, she had a serious Chinese food craving the whole last month.
Leonard smiled wider, "Yes, I think I got everything you like."
Penny gave him a quick kiss then sat down at the table and dug into her food as she sipped water from the cold water bottle next to her plate. Leonard couldn't help but chuckle, Penny was always a serious eater, but since they had been back together she was even more serious about eating every meal. His thoughts were broken when she said, "Stop laughing, you know I'm eating for two." her mouth still full of food while she talked.
Leonard shook his head, "I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing because you look adorable. Just eat slowly and don't talk with you mouth full, I don't want to practice the Heimlich maneuver on you." She gave him a smile and a nod, so he sat down to join her for dinner.
Penny had ate her whole meal and one of Leonard's egg rolls in just ten minutes, it was actually just a little faster than he planned, which was good. "Okay now comes the pampering." he said with a smile.
"You mean there is more than this great meal." she asked with curiosity.
"Follow me." he got up and pulled her along to the bathroom
"Leonard, a bubble bath!" Penny squealed.
Leonard put his hand in the water, he had made it especially hot so it would cool down to a lower temperature while she ate. "Ah perfect." he then turned to Penny, "Your bubble bath awaits."
Penny grabbed him, kissed him quickly, then began to undress them both, looking up at him with innocent eyes. "You're not going to let me soak by myself are you." she then added a little pout to emphasis her point.
Leonard lit a couple candles and turned out the bathroom light before they got in the tube, getting another little squeal from Penny about how romantic it was. They soaked and washed each other for the half hour, finally just laying there in the water, Penny contently humming to herself as she laid back against Leonard. "Honey, this is just so perfect, a good meal and then a relaxing soak in the tub is just what I needed, you know me so well."
Leonard gave her a kiss on her exposed neck, her hair being up in a bun, then nibble a little on he skin sending goose bumps all over her body. "I have one more treat for you." he whispered.
"There's more?" she said in as much surprise as she could muster being so content at the moment. Leonard just nodded and kissed her neck again, making Penny close her eyes, relax completely against him and moan in pleasure.
It was twenty minutes later, when the water started to cool that Leonard and Penny dried themselves before Leonard lead a very relaxed Penny to their bed. He pulled out some pillows then threw towels over them and then told Penny to lie face down on the bed, pillows and towels. Penny laid down on her belly as instructed then giggled. "So what kinky sex thing do you have planned for me."
Leonard smiled, "No sex tonight. Tonight is Penny night, it is all about you tonight."
Penny was now really curious about what he had planned until she felt the lotion poured on her back, then Leonard's hands start to rub it into her skin. He was giving her a massage and it felt incredible, she was already relaxed but it now felt like he was melting her bones as he rubbed more lotion on her body. Penny closed her eyes and just concentrated on how good her body felt, it wasn't long before she was moaning at every manipulation of her body by Leonard's hands.
Leonard had worked hard, since that bug report a couple of years before, to make his massages better than an eagle trying to carry her away. He also studied for an hour on the computer today to find the best points and how to massage different parts of a females body. Add to that the massage lotion he got at a local massage parlor and he was doing his best to make sure she enjoyed this massage. It was suppose to be work for him, massaging her, but he found please in making her feel good and his reward for what he was doing was her moans of pleasure. He massaged her for a good half hour while she laid on her stomach, kneading her back and legs while she made little sounds of contentment. So it wasn't long after that she stopped moving at all and the only sounds from her were gentle snores, the kind she made when she was dead tired.
Leonard smiled, the massage was now over and he moved her carefully to the side to take the towels and pillows away from the middle of the bed, then got her pajama top and put it on her, she was so tired she never woke up. He then got himself ready before he turned out the lights and laid down next to her, her by instinct cuddling up next to him, again never waking up. He put the covers up on them both, then just laid there on his back, her head on his chest and her body against his, and just enjoyed the closeness of her being next to him.
He was not as tired as her so he laid awake for a little while just thinking about her and them, he felt good inside, even after everything that had happened the last couple of months, he still felt good. He loved Penny with all his heart and the thought of them getting married soon and being together forever just made him want to jump for joy. He promised himself to not take her for granted and make sure she knew he loved and appreciated her all his life, he would also protect her with his life. As he continued to lay there, he kept thinking, he wondered if his extreme need to protect her was based on her being pregnant now, he felt it so strongly even if it wasn't his baby she was caring. That thought suddenly made Leonard realize something he hadn't thought before, was Sheldon being the way he was because he also had instinctual need to protect Penny and his baby.
Leonard was now wide awake, he knew he would try and fight any person who tried to keep him away from his child and the mother, but that was exactly what he was doing with Sheldon, keeping him away. Suddenly he was horribly confused, was he really helping the situation or was he…was he actually punishing Sheldon and maybe Penny for what they did. He honestly couldn't answer that question to himself, he had been upset with Sheldon ever since this happened and now he was keeping him away from his baby and the mother. He also never really talked seriously to Penny about it before he told her what he wanted, it was her who was the one pregnant, not him and he was most likely not the father, so it should be her decision.
Those thoughts made Leonard lay awake for hours, as the more he thought about it, it made him feel worse on how he might be treating Penny and even Sheldon. He had to figure out what he was doing to both of them, he needed to do what was right or he knew it would eat at him forever, and he needed to talk to Penny. However he couldn't talk to Penny until he had it straight in his own mind and he wasn't sure now if he could even do that by himself, which made him worry more. It was almost 4 AM when Leonard finally fell asleep from fatigue, his troubled mind finally getting too tired to go on.
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Leonard not falling asleep till late resulted in Penny waking up before him the next morning, and after she woke up enough to realize it was Saturday she just snuggled closer to Leonard. She would have fell right back to sleep except for one thing, she had to go to the bathroom so bad she felt she was going to explode. It surprised her that she was able to get out of bed and not wake up Leonard, then confused her when she saw the bedside alarm clock and it was almost noon and Leonard was still not up. She quickly went to pee then came back to bed, trying to be as disruptive as possible to 'accidentally' wake him up. His moving to pull her close to him, let her know she was successful because he was now partially awake.
"Leonard, are you awake." She innocently asked.
"Uh hu." he mumbled as he held her.
Penny just wanted to lay with him and fall back asleep but she was still wondering why he didn't want to get up, he always got up early. "Leonard are you okay?"
"Uh hu." was again all that came out of him.
He said he was okay and seemed okay, so Penny decided not to push to get him up anymore when she really didn't feel like getting up herself, she was warm and comfortable, therefore she snuggled a little closer to him and promptly fell back asleep. It was two hours later she woke up to an empty bed, the spot still warm next to her and just before she was about to get up, to look for Leonard, she heard the bathroom toilet flush and as she looked towards the bathroom he came out to look right at her. "Good Morning." she said softly.
Leonard gave her a small smile, "Good Afternoon."
Penny opened the covers and gave him her best puppy dog eyes, "I'm cold."
Leonard chuckled and then walked over to get in bed with her and taking her into his arms, "Better?"
Penny rolled him on his back with her on top of him and started to kiss him, she was not planning to get out of bed for a little while yet.
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Penny went to work Monday morning with a spring in her step, the weekend with Leonard had been wonderful and she couldn't help the happiness she felt even if she had to let him go that morning. She couldn't help thinking about it in her mind, how Saturday they had stayed in bed till almost dinner time, it was something she wanted to do with him since he came back to her, just spend the day with him cuddling and loving him. That evening he took her to dinner, then to any movie she wanted, which was a tear jerker and he ended up holding her the whole time, then there was the coffee shop afterwards where they just talked until they were kicked out. Saturday was great but Sunday was good too, they got up earlier that day and had brunch at a local hotel, followed by spending the afternoon at a street fair until they were so tired of walking they just sat down and ate ice cream together, Leonard's lactose free. Then that evening they got a pizza, something she had been craving that day, as they cuddled together on the couch, Leonard giving her another back massage then holding her until they finally went to sleep in each others arms that night.
Penny was practically bouncing on her toes as she walked from the studio parking lot to the set, it seemed like nothing could dampen her mood that day. However, that all changed as soon as she entered the building, the mood there so thick she swore she could cut it with a knife and it seemed that everyone's eyes were on her, as soon as she walked in the door, even the eyes of her friend Carol. It didn't take her long to understand why and it didn't take long for it to destroy any happiness she had.
"YOU HAD NO RIGHT TO DO THAT!" the loud shouting voice of the producer came booming from the office that he used, located at the side of the main room that she was now standing in. Penny heard, along with everyone else, another voice, talking back, whose words they couldn't make out but they all knew that voice belonged to their director.
"YOU DON'T DETERMINE WHAT IS FUNNY HERE." the producer's loud voice came through and again the director responded, though they couldn't make out his exact words.
"WELL THAT WON'T HAPPEN AGAIN, BECAUSE SHE IS OFF MY SHOW AS OF NOW!" Penny now didn't have to guess who they were talking about as every actor she worked with then looked at her.
It was a few seconds later the assistance to the producer came out the office, looked around before came straight to her. "I'm sorry but you need to clean out your stuff, you're not on the show anymore. Accounting will settle your remaining pay." the assistance then turned and went back to the office leaving Penny just standing there in shock.