21Penny awoke a while later, still under the affects of the alcohol. She struggled to sit up and looked around the dark room. At first she thought she was alone, until she heard a great snore coming from her right. There was Sheldon, fast asleep in a very awkward position. He lay with his face against the arm of the couch, his knees up against his chest and his rear end sticking up in the air. Everyone else had obviously gone off to a different room. She had thought she heard the door close a few moments before (probably what woke her up), and her apartment door open across the hall, but she was really too drunk to care who had gone into her house.
"Sheldon," she mumbled. "Wake up."
"No...no," Sheldon murmured. "I don't want to go to school. Bernie will laugh at me..."
"Sheldon, you're dreaming. Wake up!" Penny shook him.
"Huh?" Sheldon looked up, and wiped the drool from his mouth. He looked to his left to find Penny sitting next to him, then looked around to find that everyone else had left. "Where is everyone?"
"I don't know," said Penny. She looked at the clock on the table. It was almost midnight.
"You're in my spot," Shelon observed, sitting up straiter.
"Oh, so I am." said Penny. Her head was spinning. Why must she always drink a bottle of alcohol every time she goes to a party? "Here, Sheldon. I think I'm going to go to my apartment." She stood up and headed for the door.
"Wait! Don't forget your keybowl!" Sheldon grabbed the clay bowl from the table.
"Oh, thank you." Penny took the gift and left for her apartment. She opened the door and went for her bedroom, ready for bed so she could sleep off the alcohol. But apon entering her bedroom, she saw someone laying in her bed, and it definately wasn't Mr. Miggens.
Howard and her friend Katie were laying there, butt naked, and doing something that was definately not sleeping on her bed. Penny dropped Sheldon's keybowl from shock, and it smashed on the floor. She shouted;
"Howard! What the hell are you doing on my bed? GET OUT!" Penny threw a chunk of keybowl at him, and he didn't need telling twice. After rushing the other half of their clothes on, both Howard and Penny's friend Katie left, Penny chasing them out the door. She heard the lobby door slam at the bottom of the stairs, and a similar sound echoed behind her. She turned around to find Sheldon standing in front of his door, a similar expression to hers on his face.
"I have just discovered Raj and one of your little friends having intercourse on my bed," he informed her. "My bed, Penny!"
Penny sighed. "I have got to get me some less slutty friends."
"Apparently, so do I, because when I went in Leonard's room after, I found him with that girl who tried to break into my room the last time you brought your friends to my apartment."
"Rachel's with Leonard?" said Penny incredulously. She couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy. "That no good, back stabbing little b- "
"What am I going to do?" interrupted Sheldon. "I don't have anywhere to sleep tonight."
Penny sighed again. There was no way in hell she was ever going to sleep on her mattress ever again. "Take my bed, Sheldon. I'll sleep on the couch." He didn't know about Howard and Katie being there moments before.
"Why, thank you, Penny. You know, sometimes I feel like you're my only true friend." Sheldon smiled, then followed Penny into her apartment.
Penny felt a bit guilty for having Sheldon take the Wolowitz-ified bed, but right now she was too tired and hung over to worry about it.
Sheldon walked into the bedroom, and something crunched underneath his feet. He looked down to find the remains of the keybowl laying in pieces on the carpet. "My keybowl..." he said rather sadly.
Penny felt even more guilt now. "Yeah, I'm sorry, Sheldon. I- I dropped it..."
"You dropped it? I spend hours on a present for your birthday, and you drop it?"
"You spent hours on that?" said Penny, looking down at the shattered clay bowl, which frankly looked just as pretty that way as it had before. "I'm sorry, Sheldon. It was a very nice thought, anyway."
"Yes, it was. And now it's ruined."
"Oh, don't say that! Here, I'll make it up to you. Do you want some ice cream?" It seemed kind of silly asking a grown man if ice cream would make everything better, but when it came to Sheldon, this was pretty normal.
"No. It's past midnight. I can't eat sugary food after eight thirty."
"Oh...well, do you want anything else?"
"I am a little thirsty."
"Okay, what would you like?"
Sheldon thought. "The beverage I drank at the party had an interesting taste. May I have that?"
"You want what was served at the party? Alcohol? Are you sure, Sheldon?"
"Yes, fairly sure. It had kind of a zing to it!"
Penny laughed. "Alright, then." She took a fresh bottle out of the fridge, and poured Sheldon a glass. Heck, one for her too. She was going to be spending the next seven or so hours with Sheldon Cooper, after all. While Sheldon took a sip, Penny gulped down half of her glass and said, "So, ready for bed?"
"Hardly. I'm not even tired!"
"Well, I am. And if you want to stay here, you're going to have to go to bed and stay quiet."
"But, I don't want to go to bed."
"Do you want me to kick you out?"
"You wouldn't do that. You're too nice."
Penny glared at Sheldon, making him shrink down like he was smaller than her. "You want a bet?"
"No thank you. I would most likely loose."
"That's right. Now go to bed, or get out."
"Come on, Penny! Let's watch Red Dwarf! One show!"
"No, and besides, it's not even on."
"But I have the complete box set." Sheldon pulled a DVD case out of nowhere, which said, "Red Dwarf: Series 5" at the top.
Penny stared at it. "Do you carry that thing with you everywhere?"
'Not normally. It's just a happy coincidence that I grabbed this instead of Firefly."
Penny opened her mouth with the obvious new question in mind, but closed it wisely.
"So, can we watch it? Oh please! Oh please! Oh please!"
Penny rolled her eyes. She knew he wouldn't shut up until she said yes. "Alright, fine! One show!"
"Oh, goody! Oh goody!" said Sheldon in a very childish manor, which was a normal manner for Sheldon. He popped the disk into the player and pressed the on button. Penny finished off her glass, and poured another, knowing that this was going to be a long night.