Disclaimer: *looks around* Nope, still don't own The Big Bang Theory.

A/N: *looks at the calendar* Oops... so 6 days instead of 5. Stupid real life got in the way again. :P But chapter 5 was a little longer, so I figured that would hold you guys over for a bit. This is the last chapter before the epilogue, so I hope you all enjoy it. This chapter turned out to be about 6 pages or so in MS Word. I hope you all enjoy! I also loved writing this chapter and I hope you all like it too.

Chapter 6: Sleep and an Epiphany

"Your prefrontal cortex come up with anything?" Leonard asked when Penny and Sheldon came back. It looked like the boys decided to get a carry out from P.F. Chang's instead of eating at the restaurant.

"Not yet," Sheldon walked over and sat down in his spot, "But thank you for occupying my basal ganglia with such a menial task as answering that question."

"You're welcome?" Leonard wasn't sure how to respond to that.

"Same old Sheldon," Howard commented.

"Why would've I changed just by going out to dinner with Penny?" Sheldon wasn't following.

"Nothing," Howard shook his head and went back to his food.

Raj whispered into Howard's ear and Howard repeated what Raj said, "Raj wants me to tell you that he's starting to feel an effect of that alcohol so he stopped drinking for tonight. And he apologies, Penny."

"Oh, that's okay, sweetie," Penny patted Raj's back. "I can't expect you to be drunk 24/7."

Penny turned to Howard, "You should go and eat at the Cheesecake Factory some time."

"Why?" Howard furrowed his brows.

"No reason," Penny shook her head, smiling at the in-joke.

Raj whispered in Leonard's ear and he shrugged, "Sure, why not?"

"What'd he ask?" Howard wondered.

"He was asking if he could crash on our couch tonight. He's not up to driving home in his condition," Leonard said.

"He'll do no such thing," Sheldon objected.

"What's the problem?" Leonard furrowed his brows.

"If he 'crashes' on the couch tonight, where is Penny supposed to sleep?" Sheldon used air quotes.

"I could give him a ride home if he lets me drive his car and crash at his place for the night," Howard offered.

Raj started to nod, but Leonard interjected, "Wait a minute. I said he could stay here, Sheldon. Technically, you don't even live here. You're not in your universe, so what I say here goes."

"Sheldon, it really is no big deal," Penny shook her head. "If I have to, I'll just sleep on the floor."

"That's not acceptable, Penny, you're a guest in our home," Sheldon said, "No matter what Leonard says, I'm Dr. Sheldon Cooper and according to the lease agreement, I live here… and according to the roommate agreement, I get the last word on matters like this."

"It's not applicable here, Sheldon," Leonard stood up, "You're not our Sheldon, therefore the lease and the roommate agreement don't apply to you." Why didn't I think of that before when he was bothering me about the roommate agreement?

"Honey, if Raj needs to sleep on the couch, then Raj will sleep on the couch," Penny walked up and put her hands in the air, separating Sheldon and Leonard, "I'm okay with sleeping on the floor."

"Fine, but I'm not happy about it," Sheldon remarked. He looked at his watch, "Speaking of which, it's bedtime, Wolowitz, show yourself out."

Sheldon walked away, heading toward his bedroom. Howard stared after him with his mouth hanging open, holding food up to it. He closed it and put the food back in his container. Standing up, he commented, "I was so looking forward to that Sheldon-free time. No offense, Penny, but the sooner you two get back home the better."

"None taken," Penny agreed.

S~*~P

Time passed and the entire apartment of 4A was fast asleep except for one girl tossing and turning in a sleeping bag Leonard offered her on the floor. She had changed in to yet another one of Sheldon's shirts for her sleeping attire and stole one of his boxers to wear over her own underwear without him knowing. They were comfortable. So sue her.

She stared up at the ceiling and whispered to herself, "I said I could handle sleeping on the floor and I meant it."

After a few more minutes of not being able to fall asleep, she slapped her hands on her sides in frustration and got up to go to the kitchen. Quietly, she got the necessities to get herself a cup of water and a little 'midnight' snack.

"Penny?" Sheldon tapped her on her shoulder. She let out a startled scream and turned to face her tall, lanky physicist.

"Sheldon!" Penny whispered harshly, "You about gave me a heart attack. I thought you were sleeping."

She looked over to Raj on the couch. He was still asleep.

"You affected my REM sleep," Sheldon countered.

"How did I do that?" Penny humored him. It was way too early/late to deal with his craziness.

"You had me worrying about you sleeping on the floor," Sheldon stated.

"I can sleep on the floor, Sheldon, I'm fine with it. I told you," Penny replied and took her sip of water.

"Clearly not, you're standing here talking to me instead of sleeping," Sheldon argued.

"You were worrying about me sleeping on the floor?" Penny couldn't believe what she was hearing. This jaunt through universes was maturing him a little. And it seemed for the better.

"I propose a one-time only deal," Sheldon held up one finger.

Penny folded her arms, "Are you suggesting you and I sleep in the same bed, Dracula?"

"I was going to propose that you sleep in my bed and I'd sleep on the floor, but your idea sounds more comfortable for my back," Sheldon rubbed at his back. He paused for a moment and then looked as though a thought just hit him. "And just what are you implying by calling me Dracula?"

"Nothing. I'm too tired to argue," Penny walked by him and headed for his room.

"So was that a yes?" Sheldon stood there for a moment and then followed her. By the time he reached his room, she was already snuggled up on the right side of his bed, under his covers. "I hope she doesn't hog the covers… or snore. What on Earth possessed me to even ask her? I must be coming down with something."

Slowly, he got into his bed on the other side. He looked over to Penny. She must've fallen asleep on contact with his pillow. Handle sleeping on the floor, my sweet patootie. Sheldon let out a deep breath and closed his eyes.

He could feel himself start to fall asleep when he felt something strewn across his chest. Opening his eyes, once again, he looked down to see Penny's arm. She was starting to snuggle closer into him. Licking his lips, he fought with himself for a moment and then tapped Penny on the arm. He whispered, "Penny?"

She let out a groan and snuggled even closer into Sheldon. She was now almost completely draped over him. Slowly, he wrestled one of his arms out from under her and held it up in the air awkwardly. He looked uncomfortable and didn't know where to put his arm. Tentatively he let it rest on Penny's back. They were mirroring their position from the other night on the couch, but this time, they were lying down in bed.

"I guess this could be worse," Sheldon whispered to himself. "She could be snoring."

She let out a small snore and he glared at her, "That wasn't a challenge."

"Might as well try to get some sleep," Sheldon was talking to himself. Penny was really out. "She better not get any saliva on me this time."

Time passed and both occupants of Dr. Sheldon Cooper's bedroom were fast asleep. After a moment, Penny groaned a little and started to stretch a little. She felt something on her back. Opening her eyes, she noticed her most comfortable pillow was once again Sheldon's chest. And the thing on her back was Sheldon's arm.

"Not again," Penny sighed. "I hope he doesn't kill me."

Gradually, she tried sliding out of their position without waking him. Just as she was about out he sat up quickly shouting, "Eureka!"

Penny let out a scream and held her hand to her chest. Sheldon turned to her, eyes wide with a huge smile on his face, "Eureka, Penny!"

"What? What is it?" Penny still held her hand on her chest, trying to calm herself down.

"I had an epiphany in my sleep on how to get back to our universe," Sheldon declared. He was so overcome with happiness; he grabbed Penny in another bear-hug and jumped out of bed. "Come on, Sleeping Beauty, we've got to get back home!"

Penny sat there in shock. She shook her head and slid out of Sheldon's bed, "Holy crap on a cracker."

S~*~P

"What's wrong?" Leonard was tying his robe as he entered the living room. Sheldon was already kneeled by the transporter toy. Raj sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"I've figured out how to get back to our universe," Sheldon had the biggest smile on his face.

"Really? That's fantastic," Leonard looked genuinely happy.

"How?" Penny joined them in the living room.

"I was thinking about the differences in this universe and the constants," Sheldon started to explain.

"You mean like how our Penny never moved across the hall?" Leonard wondered.

"Mostly, yes, but I mainly focused on the consistencies," Sheldon said.

Raj whispered into Leonard's ear and he translated, "Yeah, like what?"

"Penny," Sheldon simply said as he continued to fiddle with the transporter.

"What about me?" Penny folded her arms across Sheldon's blue Superman shirt. It was swimming on her, but it was comfortable. Leonard and Raj didn't bother to comment on her sleeping attire.

"Your actions have been consistent in both universes," Sheldon said, "You haven't changed the way you act around me while we've been here."

"Why would I?" Penny shrugged.

"You wouldn't… you're the one constant I can count on through both of these parallel universes," Sheldon said. Penny smiled at yet another compliment he didn't even realize he gave her, "And that got me to thinking about our universe and the transporters connections."

"Go on," Leonard motioned him.

"We have to press the buttons on the transporters at the same time to return home," Sheldon stated.

"How are we going to get them to do that?" Penny kneeled down next to him.

"We have to contact them again, hope the batteries haven't died on either transporter, tell them to time pressing the same button at the exact same time as us, and hope that the batteries don't die in the process of returning home," Sheldon listed.

"Right," Penny looked nervous.

"Penny," Leonard came up to Penny. He tapped her on the shoulder and she stood up, facing him.

"Yes, Leonard?" Penny asked.

"It was wonderful meeting you. I hope that someday the Penny of this universe will move here and we can become as good friends as you are with your Leonard," Leonard smiled. He held out his hand for her to shake.

She gave him a hug instead, "Me too."

Penny moved over and gave Raj a hug too. Raj looked like he was in a stunned stupor, but returned the hug with a smile. He patted her on the back and when they parted, he gave her a thumbs-up to echo what Leonard had said.

"Come on, Raj, let's give Penny and Sheldon room to return home," Leonard motioned Raj to go out the door, "We don't want to risk going with them."

He turned around before closing the apartment door, "We'll tell Howard goodbye for you."

"Bye, guys," Penny smiled. Leonard and Raj nodded at her as Leonard closed the door. She returned to Sheldon's side.

"Let's go home," Sheldon pressed the button to contact their friends once again.

TBC

I had a lot of fun writing this chapter too. I wanted to write a little character progression for Sheldon. I hope I kept Sheldon as in-character as possible with him sleeping in the same bed as Penny. The bed scene and the dinner scene in the last chapter really were my favorite scenes to write, as well as another scene that's coming up in the epilogue. ;) :) I hope yet again you all are still enjoying the story. Keep reading and reviewing, everybody! Shenny Forever! Please review and tell me what you think if you can! Until next time... and the last time (the epilogue). :)