A/N: I'm really sorry it took so long to update this story; I made a mistake in trying to write two different stories at the same time and got a serious case of writer's block because of it. So, I've decided to finish this story first then resume "The Christmas Waif".

Chapter 20

The week went by quickly, with Leonard working hard finishing up a project he was working on and Penny going to every audition and extra call she could manage, even getting two-days work as an extra on some Marvel Superhero movie, though it being only several scenes where she was just part of the crowd of extra's running away from some evil villain's destruction of the city and it was not really what Penny would call acting. However, she giggled how excited Leonard would be when they went to see the movie and Penny pointed herself out to him in the crowd, that is if she could just keep it a secret from him for the next year before it was released. However, it was now the end of the week and Penny had just squeezed into the backseat of the Uber with her two friends, Bernadette being in the middle, because of her small size. She couldn't help being excited right now, her friend's excitement being contagious, as it had been building up all week till today about their trip to Las Vegas. However, even though she was excited now, that had not been the case during the week where she felt very mixed emotions the whole week about leaving Leonard. She knew she should enjoy "letting her hair down" and partying with her friends, but she also knew she was going to hate sleeping alone for those couple of nights without Leonard by her side and would miss him being there to talk to during her non-partying times with the girls.

Penny was therefore sort of just sitting there, zoned out thinking, as Bernadette told he Uber driver, "Burbank Airport, please."

It was Amy that quickly brought Penny back to reality when she squealed loudly, "I can't believe we're really doing this. Las Vegas here we come." making Penny now smile a little at the excitement of her friend.

Bernadette then quickly added, "No husbands, no boyfriends, no rules." which made Penny smile a little wider at her other friend's obvious excitement.

However, then Amy asked, "No Rules? We're not going to get drunk and have a six-way with the Blue Man Group, are we?"

Penny couldn't stop how quickly she responded to Amy's question or how loudly, it was like her brain was on automatic and she had no control, "NO!"

Both Amy and Bernadette gave Penny a surprised look as the silence between them went for a few moments too long, finally Amy stating with less enthusiasm, "So there are some rules."

Bernadette quickly responding, "Fine, No husbands, no boyfriends, some rules."

Penny sighed to herself, "Thank you."

After a few minutes of driving to the airport the awkward moment was forgotten and the girls were back to being very excited, Bernadette blurting out, "I got a brand-new bikini, so drinks at the pool are on these." her then pushing out her chest to enhance her already ample breasts.

Penny rolled her eyes in surprise, "Really, you want to attract guys?"

Bernadette just gave her a smug look, "Don't worry, though the 'Girls' may say come hither, I have a can of pepper spray that says close enough, Jack."

Penny just smiled and shook her head, while Amy giggled before joining the conversation with, "I got some old underwear I'm going to throw on stage at the Garth Brooks concert."

Penny gave her a weird look, "I'm sorry, why old?"

Amy shrugged, "Because last time I saw him, I threw new ones up and it got me nothing."

Penny and Bernadette looked at each other and both rolled their eyes at Amy's statement. Amy though was not deterred, "So what wild and crazy things are you planning during our trip, Penny?"

Penny shrugged, "Hit the buffets and maybe see a show."

Amy and Bernadette now looked at each other with a little surprise before Amy stated for both of them, "Boring!"

Penny quickly took stock of their response and added, "And get drunk and gamble."

Amy smiled and nodded to Bernadette, who also smiled, before Amy responded, "That's my bestie."

It was a few hours later they arrived in their Las Vegas hotel room, it was a two-bed room with a couch that folded out to a third bed. "Okay who gets the couch?" Bernadette asked before they threw their bags on the beds.

"That's okay, I don't mind sharing a bed with one of you." Amy stated.

"Should we cut cards to decide." Penny said quickly is response, picking up the souvenir cards on the desk in the room, with the Hotel's logo,

Amy frowned, "Don't any of you want to share a bed with me?"

Bernadette just walked over and put her arm around her friend. "Honey we love you but you bite in your sleep."

Penny just nodded and added, "Hard!"

Amy just sighed and nodded. It was only a few minutes later that Bernadette threw her bags on the couch, then adding half-heartedly "I'm definitely not gambling this weekend." making Penny and Amy giggle, as they unpacked their clothes so that they could dress up to enjoy the rest of the night in Vegas, none of them expecting to get to sleep till late that night.

Back in Pasadena, Leonard pulled his phone out of his pocket, while playing Dungeons and Dragons with his friends Sheldon, Raj and Howard, to look at a text that Penny sent him. He giggled a little after reading it and seeing the picture she attached.

Seldon however was not amused at the distraction, especially because it was now Leonard's turn to roll the dice and he was holding up the game, and as Sheldon thought his eventual victory, "Leonard, I expect from your happy mood that Penny just sent you that text, but I fail to see what is so important that she could send you that it would interrupt our D&D game."

Leonard looked at Sheldon still smiling, "It is not important it is just nice; she said the shrimp there were as big as lobsters and she sent me a picture of one on her hand to prove it."

Howard couldn't help himself, "Better be careful Leonard, she may find one bigger than you and run off with it." Raj giggled at Howard's comment as Leonard frowned because of it.

Leonard however then just seriously looked at Howard, "Penny also told me earlier, after they got there, that Bernadette has one of the smallest bikini's she has seen in a while and she will be surprised if she doesn't spill out of it tomorrow at the pool."

Howard's eyes got wide, which made Raj giggle now at him, which now made Leonard the one with the smug look on his face. Raj couldn't help himself in taking a jab at all of them, partly because it would be fun and partly because he was jealous, they all had girlfriends/wife and he had none. "Well, you know they all will be drinking and it is Vegas, so anything can happen, "What happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas"." then to help his friend Howard with Leonard, "especially Penny who is now in a town that alcohol runs freely." an evil smirk on his face.

Leonard was trying to think of a response to Raj's comment when Sheldon made a weird snicker, "Please, I've seen Penny drink ten times what Bernadette and Amy can drink together and still manage to find her way home with some guy for a one-night stand."

Leonard now looked at Sheldon, not happy with his comment on Penny's younger dating habits, "Yeah, at least she finds her way home, Amy gets one or two drinks in her and she immediately tries to get guys in the liquor store parking lot to take her to a hotel."

Sheldon frowned, before stating, "She does not do well when she is drunk." he admitted before thinking for a second then getting his phone out to text Amy.

Howard watched Sheldon for a second before then immediately doing the same thing, texting Bernadette as quickly as his fingers could move on the phone's small keyboard.

Penny tried to hide her giggle at Leonard's text about what was happening there back in Pasadena, especially as she watched the frowns form on Bernadette and Amy's faces as they read the text messages from their husband/boyfriend. However, she couldn't help herself from asking her friends, "What's going on?" as innocently as she could.

Bernadette responded first, "Howard has sent me statistics on how the sun is more intense in Las Vegas than Pasadena and then advising me that I need to cover up when I'm at the pool."

Amy then added, "Sheldon is telling me I should go back to the room to sleep so I'll will be well rested for tomorrow and reminding me not to go drinking with Penny because she is a bad influence and will probably get us all in trouble."

"Hey!" Penny blurted out, then as both girls looked at her, she added more quietly, "I'm not that much a bad influence."

"Well, I'm telling Sheldon to stuff it, friends don't let friends get drunk and do stupid things alone, Penny needs us." Amy stated as she typed on her phone a response to Sheldon.

"Right! and I need to do my part so we get free drinks tomorrow at the pool, and wearing a robe won't do it, after all we can't let Penny be the one to slut it up all the time." Bernadette added.

Penny looked at them, "Gee, thanks guys, it is great having friends like you." she said sarcastically

"No problem bestie, we got your back." Amy responded.

"Right on." Bernadette added.

Penny just rolled her eyes and picked up another shrimp off her plate to eat so she wouldn't say anything snarky back and ruin the evening.

After their late dinner, the girls stopped by the entertainment desk at the Hotel to see what shows were playing that weekend, finding a show they all wanted to see the next evening, after they convinced Amy that it would be better than going to the lounge to see a Barry Manilow impersonator. So, it was only a few minutes later, once they left the entertainment desk, that they found themselves in the center of the main floor of the hotel, which was also the gambling center of the hotel. It was then that, even with her poor luck in ending up on the couch, Bernadette cheerfully announced, "Let's play some slots for a little bit."

Amy enthusiastically agreed to Bernadette's suggestion, while Penny just nodded in acknowledgement, following her friends to one of the many rows of slot machines filling the center of the gaming floor. Bernadette and then Amy quickly sat down at a couple of machines, and to both Penny's and Bernadette's amazement, Amy quickly brought out a coffee can full of quarters from her large purse. It then only took a couple seconds for Amy to realize that Penny and Bernadette were staring at her, "I never deposited my can of change from earlier this year so I thought this would be a good way to use it." Amy confessed at her friend's stares.

Penny frowned, "If I knew you had that with you, I would have stayed in the room." her nose suddenly feeling funny as she remembered how it hurt when Amy hit her with that same can months before.

"Yeah, I'm still really sorry about that Bestie." Amy said sheepishly

"Yeah, well if you even try to swing that purse around this weekend, I'm going to make you eat that can like a Billy goat." Penny replied with much more seriousness, that it even surprised herself

Amy nodded, "I got it, no purse swinging."

Bernadette giggled and was rewarded with a death glare from Penny, "If you provoke her, I will save some of that can for you to eat, too." Penny then told her in a flat menacing tone.

Bernadette quickly nodded, "Right, no fighting or purse swinging this weekend."

Penny was now feeling a little angry, thinking back on that event, and she knew she needed a little time to calm down, and it would best if she was away from the girls while she did it. So, after giving them both a stern look she just told them, "I'm going to look around for a few minutes, I'll catch you back here later."

Both girls nodded and said in unison, "Okay." both of them happy to have a angry Penny not standing over them.

Penny walked away from the girls, she didn't really care about the slot machines anyway, so she just strolled over to the Craps table, the thought of watching people throw dice and make wagers on the table being more exciting to her than just watching coins put into a machine and its handle being pulled. She had learned about playing Craps from her time with Kurt, them going to Las Vegas usually at least once a year while she was with him and him spending most of his time at the Craps table where she just watched and learned. Actually, as she thought back, being there with Kurt had been actually boring, her just having to stand and watch him play, it usually just ended up making her try to score as many free drinks as she could, to try and get hammered, to not be too bored. It actually helped for her to get drunk, since after Kurt lost his money, he would usually just take her to back the room for sex and pound her into the bed until he got his rocks off, so if she was pretty hammered, she didn't care that much, and really the one time he won, he basically did the same thing, so to Penny getting drunk was her way of coping to his gambling. It made her frown as the memory came back to her and she shook her head slightly to wash it away as she approached the table.

Penny moved herself to the edge of the table, the men to either side of her opening a space to let the pretty young woman be next to them, while they tried to play the game and look down at Penny's dress at her cleavage. Penny herself just watched the game, she really didn't know who was winning or losing, or even who's roll it was, she was just letting the previous anger she felt drain away as she mindlessly watched the dice being thrown. She even didn't notice the two men on either side of her ogling her, her mind slowly calming every minute she stood there, and just when she was feeling back to normal, someone broke the zone she was in wanting to say something to her.

"Miss, do you want to play and roll, or pass." Penny blinked trying to focus on the Crap table person's question. However, the two guys next to her basically drove into her mind that she was being asked to play by their immediate cheering her on. "Go ahead, roll." one blurted out, the man on the other side adding, "you can't do any worse than the other people that have rolled tonight." Penny then heard a few people agree with the two men and also suggest that she should roll.

Penny looked at each man in-turn, then at the Crap table employee, her being unaware of what was happening till just a few moments ago and now everyone seeming to want her to throw the dice, it made her suddenly feel weird and trapped, so she finally said with little enthusiasm, "OK."

Penny knew she needed to bet so she quickly took a couple dollars out of her purse, her change from dinner, and put it on a safe table bet, based on what she learned from watching Kurt years before. Penny then grabbed the dice, immediately again hearing people at the table cheering her on, and that cheering only got louder after Penny won her first bet at the Crap table. It was actually starting to excite her, the winning and the people cheering around her to roll again, so she took half her winnings back and placed the rest on another safe bet, before rolling again, the cheers coming again after she won for her second time, them now seeming like drug to her as she took a little of her winnings off the table and bet again. It was just before that roll she was tapped on the shoulder, her turning to see a cocktail waitress next to her asking her if she wanted a drink, making Penny just smile as she told the waitress her order, before she began to roll again.

Zack was wondering around the Casio floor when he saw and heard the crowd around one of the Craps tables and decided he had to go see what was happening. He had arrived earlier in Las Vegas for a reunion with some old college friends the next day and was just planning to eat and walk around for a little bit before going to bed early so he would be well rested for the partying with his friends the next day. It only took him a moment to realize that the crowd was there because someone was doing good at the table, but he was shocked when the people were cheering for someone they were calling "Blondie" and then to see that "Blondie" was Penny. So, Zack decided to move around the table and say "Hi" to his old girlfriend.

Penny had just thrown the dice again and the crowd erupted again to her luck, when she heard a familiar voice from behind her say, "Hi Penny."

Penny had downed a couple drinks by now but she was still in enough control of her mental faculties to recognize the voice, which made her quickly turn around to address the source. She had, however, been drinking pretty regularly for the last half hour , free drinks seeming to appear as soon as her previous one was all gone, almost magically for her. So, it was because of those drinks that she responded to that familiar voice, in a very happy. almost musical voice. "Zack!...Hey...What are you doing here?" she blurted out.

Before she could get a response however, she heard, "Are you still rolling." the table manger asked her suddenly, his job to keep the game moving.

"Uhm...yeah." Penny then threw the dice again, and as soon as they stopped rolling it generated another set of cheers around the table as she had hit her number again.

So as the cheering went on and the table winnings and losses were being handled by the table crew, Penny turned back to Zack. "Zack, I haven't seen you in a while."

"I'm here to meet some friends, so what is happening?" Zack asked her, not really comprehending the obvious.

Penny was a little overwhelmed at that moment, with both her luck gambling that night and now Zack suddenly being there, everything amplified by the alcohol in her system that didn't seem to stop coming, so she stood there quietly for a second or two before thinking before coming to the conclusion, "what the hell", he was a old friend and responded, "I'm playing Craps and winning." she exclaimed with a huge goofy smile on her face, while picking up a handful of chips from her winnings with her hand to show him. It was then the crowd cheered for her to throw the dice again, so without thinking she put all the chips in her hand on the table for her bet, the largest bet she had made all night and a significant part of her winnings, before grabbing the dice and rolling again.

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Penny woke up with a splitting headache, feeling the kind of drunken hangover she had not felt since Priya was with Leonard, she also knew through all that pain she would soon be sick and in her dulled mind she immediately tried to remember the shortest route to the bathroom from when she was in the room the day before. It was then her foggy/hungover mind started to realize something wasn't right and the room Penny was now in was a lot larger than the room she checked into the day before, the light coming in from the windows, that woke her, being intense from windows that were way too large for the room her and the girls had checked into. Confusion laced with a little fear started to creep into her dulled mind and this began to exceed the pain she felt from her hangover, so even though she knew it would make her sick, she slowly turned in the bed to look over to see if she was alone, now immediately realizing the size of the bed she was in was a lot larger than the two beds in the room her, Bernadette and Amy had checked into when they arrived. It was then, in that bed, she saw someone else and it dawned on her that she had slept the night with someone else, the covers being over them but Penny just making out a little patch of very dark hair showing from the covers. Penny suddenly could hardly breathe as she became slightly more sober and it sunk in to her that she had just spend the night with another person. However, those thoughts were quickly put on hold as the sickness from the hangover she had felt before now was only intensified as her foggy mind began to understand what she had done; she was going to throw up now and all she felt like doing was crying.

Penny rolled out of the bed as fast as she could without falling, feeling vertigo as soon as she lifted off the bed from her hangover, it making her sicker and made her understand that she was going to throw up soon, also, the need to escape that bed, and the person in it, drove her on, making it possible for her to even stand and look for the bathroom. Luckily for her she didn't have to look long, the very elaborate room, she was in, had a set of double doors to its lavish bathroom, which were currently open and just in front of Penny's view, her seeing the sinks and built in jacuzzi from where she stood, making her understand, even in her hungover mindset, exactly where to go. So, she carefully made her way to the place her mind told her to go, trying not to fall as she stumbled along and trying not to throw up even though with each step, it made her stomach try to do just that.

It was lucky for Penny that the door for the toilet was open and in view of where she stopped to look for it, when she entered the bathroom, because if it hadn't been obvious, she would have never made it. She quickly saw the toilet and took the last couple steps to it, barely getting her head over the bowl, before her stomach won the battle over her mind and she started heave out the contents of it. She had no idea of how many times she threw up or even how long she had been hugging that toilet bowl, but after a time she could do nothing more than dry heave as her empty stomach had no more to offer, and then even that stopped as she just laid on the cold tile floor to rest. It was then her mind regained control over her stomach's control of her body and it was then that she started to seriously think about her situation.

Even after being so sick and still hungover, the enormity of what she now thought of seemed to make her increasingly sober and with that new clarity her heart felt like it had been broken, by not by any other person than herself. Leonard had been in the back of her mind since she had woken up in this situation, her feeling sick making her immediately want him to comfort her like he had done many times before, ever since she first knew him. However, now as she sat on the floor, she was the only able to think about the situation she was in, and as she remembered Zack from the night before, the tears started to come freely down her cheeks, it only made her even want Leonard more badly right now to be holding her, but it was slowly dawning on her with cold realization that she may never have that again after he found out what she had just done. It was then she realized she was wearing a large T-shirt that she knew she didn't own and was except for her panties was naked under that, it only adding to the loathing she now had for herself for what she had done.

In only a few minutes of sitting on the cold bathroom floor her heartache quickly became too much for her, the thoughts that she had lost Leonard forever now, quickly turned the tears into silent sobs as she rationalized the man, she wanted so badly right now would never be hers again. Penny felt extremely sick and now that she had felt that she had lost everything, she just wanted the earth to open and just swallow her up. She had cheated on the man she loved and had given up the life she had become to cherish, and now she had no idea what to do, it seemed so over and so final at that moment. She began to feel even sicker, the hangover combined with her guilt and fear was turning her into a basket case and like a mortally wounded animal she began to just whimper in death, her head shaking back and forth as she whispered to herself, "No...No...Please God, No."