Best of both worlds (a Big Bang theory fanfic)

Chapter 9: The childcare predicament

I woke up to the gentle hum of my phone on my nightstand, after I had rubbed my eyes slightly I picked my phone up and answered the call. "Hey" I say, my morning voice apparent.
"Alice hi, sorry if I woke you" I sit up against my pillows as I answer.
"Penny it's all good, what's up?".
She spoke rather quickly as she explained her predicament, "Rose is ill so can't go to nursery and I have an important presentation at work which I don't think I can miss or Bernadette might kill me. Leonard is at work with the guys and Amy has to deal with some animals which have escaped in the lab or something and so if it isn't too much to ask could you maybe watch Rose? It'll only be for a few hours, I'll rush straight back after my presentation and-" she had barely allowed me a moment to reply so I interrupted.
"Yeah I'd be happy to! I'll quickly get ready and I'll be over soon".
She definitely seemed relieved, "Thank you so much you're an absolute life saver!".
I began getting out of bed and walking over to my wardrobe as we finished the call, "of course it's fine, see you soon".
I hang up and quickly choose an outfit, it was rather simple a basic dress with ruffles on the skirt. I then brushed my teeth, had a quick glass of water, tied my hair back, put some trainers on, grabbed my bag and left my apartment. The walk over there wasn't too far so it didn't take long for me to arrive. I had sent Penny a text letting her know I was close by and she came and opened the door to the building, holding Rose in her arms.

"Alice thank you so much!" She says smiling.
"Of course anytime!" Penny then brushes some hair out of her daughter's face and turns back to me.
"Rosie this is Alice, she's going to watch you while mummy's at work okay?".
She then handed the baby to me and planted a quick kiss on her head, "I'll message you when I finish".
As Penny left I started making my way up to the apartment, Rose in my arms. Once I was at apartment 4a, I opened the door and placed Rose down in her baby chair before quickly making myself some tea. The one thing I certainly missed from back home was a good cup of tea, sure I could still have one but it wasn't as nice and was much more of a hassle to make.
Once my drink was ready I turned my attention back to Rose, "Hey sweetness. How are you feeling?" I ask in a baby voice.
Of course she didn't respond but I was almost certain I saw a slight smile form on her lips, she really was adorable. I entertained her for a while, playing peek a boo and telling her fun stories until she started to get tired when I then put her down for a nap in her crib.

Time seemed to pass rather quickly and it wasn't long before I had gotten a text from Penny telling me she was on her way home. At this point Rose was done with her nap and we were playing with her toys.
"Hi I'm back" Penny said coming through the door, dropping her bad down on the floor, "how was she?"
"She was wonderful, we had great fun, didn't we sweetness?" The smile on her face said a lot.
Penny then went over to her daughter and picked her up, giving her a hug, "Awe I'm glad. Alice really is a life saver isn't she?".
Rose giggled a cute high pitched giggle as her mum bounced her up and down.
"So how was the presentation?" I asked as Penny put her daughter down and the two of us went over to the kitchen where Penny made herself a drink.
"It went well. We got a new drug for liver disease approved, just a 20% chance of acid reflux" she said in a rather sarcastic tone.
"Oh...?" She clearly didn't seem to happy about it all so I was a little confused.
"Yeah it's only slightly effective but it helps the company so yeah".
She then sat down beside me with her coffee, offering me a cup which I accepted.
"You don't seem to excited by it" I say.
She sighed for a moment before responding, "No it's great, just seems so pointless. I mean selling such ridiculous drugs just for money, like what's the point?".
"So don't". My answer was simple enough, if it wasn't what she wanted to do then maybe she shouldn't be doing it.
"It's a good job. I make good money, Leonard's happy with it, Bernadette would quite literally kill me if I quit and it's not like there's much else I could do".
But that I didn't believe, "You shouldn't do something just because it makes everyone else happy if it's not what's right for you. If you hate the job then find one you like. You said you did acting before, why did you stop?".
"Acting was horrible, everything was so toxic and it was impossible to get good roles with so much competition and it just wasn't something I was passionate about anymore " she complained.
But I knew that there would be something perfect for her, "so we find something you're passionate about. You deserve to be doing a job that makes you happy, it'll make life more fun and you'll be setting a good example for Rose".
From the look on her face I could tell she was really considering what I had been saying, "yeah I suppose, I just wouldn't know what to do".
"You don't have to have it all figured out right away, but when you do know just go for it" this was something I was passionate about. For a while I didn't do what I wanted with my life and was stuck at this boring office job because fashion was the difficult option, but it was so worth it when I made the switch to doing what I love.
"How did you figure it out?".
"Well it took time, for a while I had no time to sew and design and then when I finally got to make something it was a custom dress for my friend and I remembered how much I loved making my designs, and realised that I needed to do that all the time. Nothing beats the feeling of seeing someone wear something that you have designed and made, all of that hard work comes together into something beautiful". That was definitely one of the best parts of my job.