A/N: Hey guys! Sorry this took so long! This was another filler chapter and I really hate writing those. I know they're necessary sometimes but it doesn't make it any easier to write them when wishing I could get to the good stuff, you know? Thanks so much for all of your reviews, your favorites, your support in writing this. I sure appreciate you all!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Big Bang, or Sandra Bullock. :)

Chapter Five

Penny left the casting set, her steps fueled by anger and humiliation. This morning had started off so perfect. She'd woke up early (something else she was trying that laughed in the face of her 11 o'clock rule) and gotten ready, excited by the text she'd received from her agent last night about an audition where they were filming some new dramatic romance. She should have known better than to get overly excited at the idea of auditioning for something more than a television show or commercial. Because, as it turned out, it wasn't an audition for a movie. It was an audition for a feminine hygiene commercial being shot in the same studio as the movie. Not even three words in and she could tell she held no interest in the casting directors. They'd dismissed her while looking over head-shots from the next person with an unconvincing promise that they'd be calling to let her know. She wouldn't hear back. She knew those looks, that dismissal. She'd be getting nothing.

And that was it. She'd thrown herself out there too many times, faced rejection after rejection. And had it been rejection for different reasons, she might have continued to keep her feet firmly planted in achieving the dream of being an actress. But the rejection always centered on one thing. She was never what anyone was looking for. The vagueness of it rankled and she would much rather feel fury than the aching pain of another denial that made her seriously doubt herself.

Letting that fury get the best of her, she yanked her phone from her back pocket as she stalked down the hallway, scrolled to her agents number and slammed her finger down on the screen to send the call. Her agent answered on the third ring, her nasal voice only serving to further irritate Penny which was perfect. It gave her the last tiny bit of ammunition she needed to go uber-bitch on her.

"I'm not entirely sure if you're choosing not to listen or if you're actually completely dense but I told you months ago that I didn't want any more commercials."

"Penny, listen. Commercials are a great opportunity-."

"No, they're not! Especially when you can't even get cast in a commercial! You keep landing me auditions where I have no interest in auditioning. Are you purposely trying to set me up for failure?! We've gone over and over and over this…are you just not listening?!" She turned a corner and almost took a poor man down who was coming the opposite direction, too far gone to her seething anger to do much more than offer a quick apology before sinking her teeth into her agent once more. "Do you even look at my qualifications?"

"Of course," her agent sputtered on the other line, the sound of shuffling paper clear in the background.

"Quick, list three of my qualifications from my head-shot."

"I…um…well there's…Penny, listen-."

"No, you listen," Penny ground out, clenching her teeth in frustration. "This isn't working, Val. You're fired."

"Penny, wait-!"

Before she could hear another word, Penny disconnected the call and stared down at her phone, her anger quickly bleeding away and replaced by panic. She had just fired her agent. Fired her agent. Her hands started trembling slightly as the magnitude of what she had just done hit her.

"Ma'am?"

She lifted her head slightly at the sound of the voice but didn't turn towards it. She couldn't stop staring at her phone.

"Excuse me."

A hand touched her shoulder and she jumped, whipping around to face the person who cut her moment of stunned disbelief short. She vaguely remembered him as the man she'd almost taken out moments before. "I said I was sorry," she bit out defensively.

"Oh, hey," he lifted his hands to ward her off, giving her a charming smile. She couldn't help noticing how perfectly straight and white his teeth were and how the 8 o'clock shadow complimented his square jaw. "No worries about earlier. Are you okay? That sounded like a pretty intense conversation."

"Oh, yeah," she looked down at her phone then slipped it in her back pocket. "My agent. Ex agent."

His smile became sympathetic. "Philip," he said, holding out a hand.

She took it, mustering up her best fake smile, the one she used to pacify men when she wasn't interested but wanted to at least be polite. "Penny."

"So, what brings you to studio 7B, Penny?"

Penny's smile faded and she grimaced, remembering the disinterested faces and the line of hopefuls that she was almost embarrassed to be associated with. Not because she thought herself above them, but because she pictured something so much more glamorous about making it big in Hollywood. "Another failed audition," she muttered. "That's why I fired my agent. She keeps hooking me up with all of these commercial auditions when it isn't at all what I want to do. I thought I was auditioning for a movie."

"Ah, that dramatic romance?"

"Yeah, that one." She sighed and shoved her hair out of her face. "I wasn't optimistic about getting a role but I the idea of auditioning for something besides commercials and stand-ins…I was really excited for something bigger."

He watched her for a moment, not pitying her but close enough to make tears burn her eyes breifly. "You want to get some coffee? They've got a buffet set up down the hallway on the set of that movie. We could sneak in, grab some food."

She set herself up for the brush-off. It would have been perfect, the delivery so often rehearsed that she could do it in her sleep. But then her stomach growled and she remembered that breakfast had been skipped and her supper last night had been a pathetic pack of ramen. And coffee sounded so good right now.

"Come on," he coaxed, graciously ignoring the loud rumbling and offering his arm. "I promise I won't ask you out."

She hesitated a moment longer, then gave in with a sigh and slid her arm through his. The idea of a full breakfast buffet did sound amazing.

"So, how long have you been trying to land a gig acting?"

"As long as I've been here. So, about seven years now."

"Wow, that's-."

He floundered and she released a soft snort of laughter. "A long time. I know."

"How many auditions?"

"Too many to count."

Phillip pushed a door open and held it as she stepped through and into a cavernous room filled with lights, cameras and people rushing around. A living room dominated the center, stylishly decorated and crafted to be a believable setting. Sitting on the couch, looking over what appeared to be a script with a woman sporting a pixie cut and a set of headphones slung around her neck was-.

"Oh, my god," Penny breathed, going still. "That's…that's Sandra Bullock!"

Phillip glanced over his shoulder before leading her past a crush of people to a long table well out of the way. "Huh, look at that. Good thing this wasn't your audition, huh?"

Penny couldn't tear her gaze from the stage. Sandra Bullock was her all-time favorite actress. And there she was, being fussed over by make-up specialists and going over a script looking so poised and beautiful. "I think I could have given her a run for her money," she joked.

"I bet you could have."

Something warm was pressed into her hands and she looked down. A cup of coffee steamed happily away, the scent wafting up and inviting her to sip. She did, surprised by how delicious it was. Well, of course…they wouldn't serve Sandra Bullock Foldgers. This was probably something fancy and entirely too expensive for Penny.

"Are you sure this is okay?" she asked, taking another sip as she followed Phillip around the table. Fruit spilled over a huge platter in the center of the table. Plates filled with bagels, donuts, croissants and Danishes surrounded it. In between were small bowls with fruit toppings, cream cheeses and others spreads that looked entirely foreign to Penny.

"Sure. Everyone's too busy to even notice."

Penny nodded, picking up a Danish and taking a small bite. "Oh, my god," she muttered around the mouthful, her eyes rolling back in ecstasy. "This is amazing!"

"Sandy's sister owns a bakery. Everything except the fruit is from there."

Penny gave him a skeptical look. "Sandy?" she said, before taking another bite.

Phillip just gave her a mysterious smile before picking one out and indulging in a taste. Behind them, the activity picked up, a whirl of activity sending people scurrying around the set and camera-men positioning themselves.

A woman with a clip-board separated herself from a smaller group and quickly made her way over to where they stood. Her straight, black hair swung just below her chin and framed long face with flashing green eyes. "Phillip," she said brusquely, sparing Penny a quick glance before devoting her full attention to the man beside Penny. "We're ready to start whenever you are. We're kind of on a time crunch here, so if you could-."

"I'm sorry, Quinn. Had some business to take care of."

"What, your assistant couldn't?"

Phillip smiled patiently. "She decided not to show…again."

"Really, Phillip…why are you even keeping her around. She's entirely unreliable," Quinn scolded.

He paused for a minute, tilting his head to the side in contemplation. "You're right. I'll fire her first thing in the morning." Then, he turned to face Penny who was quickly figuring out that Phillip was more than just a man she'd passed in the hallway. Her mind tried scrounging up last names that sounded familiar to pair with the first. "Penny, would you be interested in taking her place?"

She stopped chewing to stare at him in shock, then swallowed and placed a hand to her chest, feeling the need to curl her fingers into a fist and slam it against her ribcage in efforts to loosen the knot stuck in her throat. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I know you you're looking for an acting gig but in the meantime, if you're not currently employed…I'd really like it if you'd consider being my personal assistant. Full time, full benefits. Medical, dental, vision, red carpet events."

"I don't…I mean…I'm-."

Oh God, she was floundering. She couldn't think. Why couldn't she think? And as if she wasn't horrified enough, she couldn't stop herself form the question that came next which made things so much worse. "Who…who are you?"

The grin he gave her this time was quite rakish and suddenly she knew the answer to her own question. It was a smile she'd seen before. On a red carpet…at the Oscars. Oh, my god…oh…my…GOD!

"Phillip Danburque," he said. "Heard of me?"

Heard of him?! How could she not have heard of him? The man had as many Oscars for his film direction than she had awards for Prom Queen, Corn Queen or anything else she'd been awarded for including Little Miss Omaha when she was five. She made some pathetic squeak in efforts to respond to him and he laughed.

"I probably should have said something earlier. It was just nice to have a conversation without being noticed for once. But really, I was impressed with how you handled your agent. I could use an attitude like that. I know it's not an acting job but the pays good. Twenty-one hundred."

"A month?" she asked, quickly adding it up in her head. The pay was a far cry from her waitressing job, even with tips added in and it was a step in the direction she wanted to take.

"A week."

"A…week?"

He nodded, looking confident now, knowing he had her. "A week."

"I…could I…would it…"

"Sleep on it. Give me a call when you've had some time to think." He took the clip board from Quinn, quickly wrote something, then tore the edge of the paper away and handed it to her. "You're welcome to stick around and have some more breakfast. It was nice meeting you, Penny."

"Nice…meeting you too," she managed, staring at his number scrawled in crisp, sharp lines over the edge of paper.

She heard Quinn mutter something along the lines of questioning his decision but chose to ignore it. She was holding the personal cell phone number of Phillip Danburque. And he'd offered her a job. As his personal assistant. It wasn't a job on a set but it was as close as she'd ever been to tasting the life she wanted and it made her light headed just thinking about how many doors would possibly open for her should she choose to accept his offer. And even if they didn't…

"Twenty-one hundred a week," she breathed, a slightly hysteric laugh slipping through her parted lips.

Think about it, Penny. And not the idea of waltzing down a red carpet draped in thousands of dollars worth of designer clothing and jewels. Think about it good and hard. What would this mean for you?

She took a deep breath, snagged another Danish and quickly left the set, intent on calling her mother, doing a couple internet searches for personal information on Phillip Danburque and spending the evening thinking long and hard about what it would mean if she said yes.

She drove home, stopping at the store to pick up a few edible necessities after remembering the cold ramen from last night and a fridge boasting only a half a carton of milk, creamer, a can of biscuits and leftovers that would probably be best thrown out. All the while the slip of paper with his number on it burned in her pocket, keeping her at a heightened sense of awareness.

She had to remind herself to take the stares slowly and not two at a time in her haste. She felt a pang of disappointment thinking about Sheldon being at work and wishing he was home so that she could talk to someone about her morning. But he'd be at work for most of the day yet. She could always text him and see if he would like her to bring him some lunch. Then again, that would be interfering with his schedule.

She laughed breathlessly, taking the last few steps at a bit of a skip and then coming to a dead stop at the landing. Amy stood in front of her door, hands folded in front of her and a look of resolve on her face.

"Hey Amy," she started, grateful that her voice remained even and hopefully not suspicious.

"We need to talk," the other woman stated, her voice as serious as her expression.

Crap.

A/N: I did what I could to research what the salary of a personal assistant to a film director would be and mostly found that the salary reflects that of the director and how much they gross a year. So forgive me for any confusion on that part but I figured that was a respectable enough amount. More than she's making now so nothing to laugh at there. :)