"So you haven't told her anything?" Cam asked, sitting on the counter, swinging his legs, as he drank from a bottle of Yoo-hoo.

Penny shook her head. "She's been on a cruise ship in the Caribbean, hard to reach. I didn't feel like getting into it, you know? That's the thing with shitty news, it will keep, no matter how long you wait. She got home this morning, so I invited her over this afternoon to talk to her. I hope that's okay?"

Cam nodded, taking another swig of his Yoo-hoo. "Of course. She sounds like a delight, I'm looking forward to meeting her."

"She'll be here in about ten minutes, so you're going to get the chance very soon."

"Ace." Cam jumped down from the counter and rinsed his bottle so he could put it in the recycling bin.

Today he was wearing skinny jeans and a soft brown sweater that brought out his eyes, looking effortlessly perfect, like always, while Penny was wearing black stretch pants, a long black tunic that covered her butt, and a black and white checked cardigan.

Cam had remarked on her wardrobe just that morning. "You know, your color choices are remarkably--" He stopped to consider.

"Boring? Predictable? Ugly? What?" Penny laughed as she headed to the kitchen for coffee.

"I was going to say 'monochromatic'," Cam offered as he followed her. "Though technically that's not correct, since there are usually two colors, black and white." He poured himself a cup and continued. "Why? I mean, I realize most people go for more sedate colors during the colder months, but I don't think I've ever seen you in anything but black and white." He looked at her curiously.

Penny shrugged, feeling self-conscious. "I was told once that black and white are slimming? And they sort of help you blend into the background? And I don't want people to think I care about how I look, that I think it's important."

"Which is it, then?" Cam smiled at her over his coffee cup. "Do you want slimming colors, or do you not care? You can't really do both, can you? You either care and want to look slim, or you don't care how you look."

Penny shrugged again. "I don't know, and I don't want to talk about it, anymore, if you don't mind." She realized as the words left her mouth that she sounded petulant and defiant, so she added, "Frederick used to say I looked like a Holstein," to mitigate her tone.

Cam made a face. "I would've chosen a different animal, Holstein connotes a bunch of things that aren't very nice, I think."

"Oh yeah? What animal would you've chosen?" Penny bit her lip, wondering why she'd asked such a question.

Cam considered. "I'd go with penguin, maybe?" he finally said with a dimpled grin and a nod. "Yeah, a little penguin, with a distracted, worried expression, a cute bum and walk? Penny the Penguin, nice and alliterative as well." He looked pleased with himself.

Penny nearly choked on her coffee. Had he just said she had a cute walk and ass? She had to put that thought away immediately, and say something to move past the moment, or her head would explode. "Are you saying I waddle and have a big butt? That's nice and alliterative, too," was what she came up with.

Now Cam was the one nearly choking on his coffee. "Not at all, oh god! I'm just saying you have a nice round bum and a darling little walk to go with it, and you usually look quite harried, like you have a thousand things going on in your fantastic brain. And you're usually dressed in black and white." He made a show of wiping his brow. "And now I'm off to take a shower before I dig myself any deeper."

Penny smiled, remembering this conversation, but was brought back to the present by the sound of the downstairs buzzer ringing.

That would be Yoko, then.

She buzzed her up and waited by the door to let her in, wondering what she'd make of the gorgeous loft and the gorgeous man in it on first blush. What would she think had happened while she'd been making people laugh on a ship in the warm waters of the Caribbean?

"Penelope! I missed you!" Yoko propelled her 5'2" frame into Penny's arms like little torpedo, wrapping her arms and legs around her much taller friend as she kissed her cheeks profusely. "God, if I hear another steel drum version of a top 40 song, I swear to kingdom come, I'm going to vomit right here on this beautiful distressed concrete floor."

She waited while Penny carefully lowered her to the floor. "Speaking of beautiful floors, who's apartment is this, anyway? I didn't know you knew anyone who lived in this part of town."

Penny nodded toward Cam, who was leaning against the counter behind them. He came forward, hand extended.

"Yoko Kitajima, this is Cameron Aldobrandeschi, my co-star in the new play."

"Hello, Yoko, pleasure to make your acquaintance, welcome to my home," Cam murmured with a smile and slight inclination of his head.

"Holy shit," Yoko said before she could help herself, tilting her head back to look Cam in the eye.

Cam continued to smile. "Can I get you anything to drink?" he asked, releasing her hand.

"Um, yeah, water? Please?"

"Sure, back in a moment."

As Cameron headed toward the kitchen, Yoko turned to Penny, brown eyes huge. "He's smokin' hot," she mouthed, shaking her fingers as if flinging drops of water off the tips. "Jesus H. Christ."

"I know," Penny answered with a grin.

"So, did you guys just meet on the first day of table reads or what?" Yoko asked in a normal tone of voice as Cam returned with waters for all three of them. He gestured toward the sofa, and all three sat down. Carol Channing wandered in just then, and jumped up on Cam's lap, kneading his legs for a moment before curling up and beginning to purr.

Yoko's eyes widened at the sight of the black and white cat. As far as she knew, C-chan still lived in the apartment over looking the East River.

"Um, no, we met about a week before first read-through," Penny began. "Cam's been super nice. He's been letting me stay here until you came back."

Yoko looked from the cat to her friend, eyes widening again. They were now almost completely round. "Until I came back," she repeated. "Oh my fucking god, you finally did it? You finally left him?" She bounded up off the couch, getting ready to hug her friend once more.

"Not exactly, Penny contradicted, shaking her head.

"Would you be more comfortable if I left you alone for a bit?" Cam asked delicately. "I could go work on some stuff in my room for few minutes..." He let the end of the sentence dangle.

"Oh god, no," Penny responded with a wry smile. "You lived it, you experienced all of the whole, sordid mess with me, I can't imagine you sitting there while I tell Yoko could possibly be embarrassing for me. Unless you're saying you don't want to hear it again? That it might be embarrassing or boring for you?"

"Not in the least, not in the least," Cam assured her. "Please, tell your friend, and don't leave anything out, especially my tales of derring-do in rescuing this little thing." And he scratched C-chan under the chin, causing her to stretch out and close her eyes in bliss.

So Penny told Yoko the whole story, beginning with how she returned to what she thought was her home, only to find her luggage in the lobby, and ending with how they'd brought Carol Channing to her new home a few days ago.

"That rat bastard!" Yoko was beside herself. "I've got a good mind to go over there and beat the living daylights out of him myself!" Yoko was livid. "How could he? After you put up with his bullshit for two years!" She turned to Cameron. "Do you know what he did to her? Did you know that he used to--"

"Yo, please," Penny interjected, putting a hand on her friend's arm. "Could we not get into all that? I don't want to bore Cam with all the details, and I think he's heard enough crap about Frederick to last a lifetime, don't you, Cam?" She looked over at him questioningly.

He nodded as he looked back at her. "Well, yes, I have heard quite a bit of horrible things about the wanker, that's for sure. And that's not even counting what I've experienced at first hand, you know?"

Yoko nodded. "Yeah. He's got most of the world fooled with his nice manners and well-educated way of speaking or whatever, but he's no gentleman, that's for sure." She turned to face Penny once more. "Are you through with him for sure?" At Penny's nod, she continued. "Good, so now I can tell you that he made a hell of a direct pass at me last year while you were in San Diego visiting your family."

Penny gasped. "Yoko Annabelle Kitajima! Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"You were so invested in him, you know? And he tried to pass it off as just him having had too much to drink or some such drivel, but I knew he meant it. I was there to pick up a suitcase you said I could borrow. He pretty much just picked me up, threw me down on the couch and tried to stick his slimy, Jabba the Hut tongue down my throat while he honked my boobs like they were horns on a bicycle."

In spite of the horrible circumstances, Penny couldn't help but laugh, and she saw that Cameron was laughing as well.

"I could feel his gut pressing into me, and I just got my legs between us and bucked him right off into that potted ficus that you guys have right next to your table? Yeah, that one. So then he apologized and said he was lonely and had been drinking too much that day." Yoko looked indignant, cheeks bright red as she remembered the incident. "He apologized again the next day and sent me some flowers or something. I don't exactly remember, I gave the flowers to my landlady, I didn't want them around. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I didn't see the point, I didn't see that any good would come of it, that's all."

Penny took a deep breath and nodded. "Well look, here's the thing, Yo. Cam's been really nice these last couple weeks, letting me stay with him, but the truth is that we hardly know each other, and I was hoping that I could come stay with you." Her next words came out in a rush. "I know you only live in a studio and only have a day bed and all that, and I know we'd be totally squashed, but I'm desperate. Frederick's told all our friends to have nothing to do with me, and I literally have nowhere else to go."

And even though she'd promised herself she wouldn't, that she would never put pressure on her best friend in such a manner, she felt tears forming in her eyes, and nothing she did could keep them from spilling over and falling down her cheeks.

"Oh shit," she said miserably, wiping her sleeves across her face. "I'm sorry, I feel so stupid. You warned me about him, and I didn't listen, and now I'm asking you to do this huge thing."

Yoko rose and came to sit on Penny's lap so she could wrap her tiny arms around Penny and hug her tightly, kissing her over and over.

"Shh, stop it, just stop it right now," she commanded. "You know I don't care, and I'd never say I told you so, even though I did, and even though that man is oozing, suppurating pus walking around in human form."

This made Penny and Cameron start laughing again.

"God, I feel just awful about this," Yoko moaned, looking up to heaven and shaking her head. "I wish I'd known, I just wish I'd known."

"What? What's wrong?" Penny asked, concerned. She looked at her friend, who was still perched on her lap like a bird, arms wound around her.

"I met a dancer on the cruise ship who lives in Miami but who's been wanting to move to New York," she explained. "His name is Shaun, and we really got along, so we agreed to look for a place together, and we just found a one room two weeks ago." She looked from Penny to Cam, brown eyes limpid. "I didn't know you needed a place to live, Pen, how could I? So we found this tiny place in the East Village that we can just about afford, and my lease is up in two weeks, and I just told him yes three days ago." She shrugged helplessly. "Two people in one room can just about be done, but three? I don't think he'd agree, you know? Even if he is a super nice gay guy who's really easy going, which he is." She looked earnestly between Cam and Penny. "You want me to try to get out of it? I can try to get out of it--"

"No, it's okay, Yo," Penny said despondently. "I'll find something else."

"But you haven't yet," Yoko said, concerned. She rose and began pacing.

Penny, too rose, and began walking around, just to release some of her nervous energy.

"I haven't really been looking, though, I was just thinking I'd be with you," Penny explained. "I'll start looking tomorrow after rehearsal. Today, even. This afternoon, I can go--"

"No, you won't." Cam's voice cut across the two women's worried ditherings with calm reassurance. "You can stay here, Penelope."

Penny looked at him, already shaking her head. "No, that's okay, Cam. You didn't get this place planning to have a roommate, I couldn't do that to you."

Cameron came and put his hands on her shoulders. "Penelope, please. It's huge. Our schedules are going to be exactly the same for the foreseeable future. When we bicker, we can stay out of each other's way, can't we? And if you somehow manage to find a place you like better, then you're free to go, of course." He smiled, the smile that had been gracing magazine covers and billboards for the last ten years. "I'm just saying that there's no pressure to get out immediately. Leave when you find a place that suits you, okay?" He gave her a gentle shake. "Okay?"

Yoko stopped walking around and poked her friend in the back. "Penny, you better say yes, because if you don't, I will."

Penny laughed at her friend and nodded at Cam, looking down between them because it was suddenly hard to look up into his eyes. "Okay," she said softly. "Thank you, so much, and okay."