A/N OK, here we go. This chapter is one of the main reasons this is rated M. There are some graphic descriptions here. Not sexually graphic, per se, but graphic descriptions that are sex related. I've also been told, by one of my beta readers, that I need to point out that this could possibly trigger some people, so consider this a warning. I've put a two lines like this:

******Graphic*******

at the beginning, and the end, of the part with the graphic descriptions. If you feel that graphic descriptions may cause you problems, please skip that part, of this chapter. There will be another A/N at the end.

Chapter 47

Caltech, Pasadena 6 PM Tuesday October 30th, 2012

Leonard had just started home, bringing Sheldon with him. This had become unusual, as Amy had been picking him up on a regular basis, since Leonard had been working late, trying to understand the random reflections, and their shapes, he was seeing in the data.

Sheldon had been going on about something, Leonard wasn't paying attention as he continued to think about his data. Finally Sheldon shouted, "Leonard, are you listening to me?"

Sheldon's shout had gotten Leonard's attention, but he just said, "No, Sheldon, I'm not. I'm thinking about my experiment and the data. It's not making sense to me, so can you keep quiet, so I can think?"

"Well, I suppose I could," said Sheldon, "but wouldn't it be better if you asked me for help? After all, I am more well versed in this than you, and I've got a much higher IQ."

"That's not true and you know it," said Leonard. "Both our IQs can't be measured accurately, and with the error bars, there is a possibility I could actually have a higher IQ than you do."

Sheldon looked offended, but Leonard continued, "Besides, I asked you to look at it a couple of months ago, and you haven't gotten back to me. You said your search for an assistant was more important. Well, you have your assistant, did you look over it yet?"

"No, I haven't," said Sheldon. "Can you give me a reason why I should?"

"Well, you said you would look it over, for me," said Leonard. "And, you know, we might win a Nobel."

Sheldon snorted and looked at Leonard strangely, "Leonard," said Sheldon, "you know you aren't up to the theoretical work. Why do you put yourself up as an equal to me?"

"I'm not talking about me," said Leonard. "I'm referring to Geoff and his group at Oxford. What if my work leads to something that wins a Nobel? How would you feel if Geoff, or one of his associates, took the data, and ideas, figured it out, and won a Nobel? Think of it, you lost out on your dream, because you thought you thought you were too good to consider helping with my idea, on a group you could have been part of."

Leonard could see out of the corner of his eye that the last remark hit home. Sheldon's face was twitching. Finally, he said, "Ok, when we get home, why don't you show me what you have, so I can show you where you're wrong. Such as your last sentence, which you ended with a preposition."

Leonard rubbed his right cheek, to hide his smile. "OK, Sheldon, we'll do that."

Apr 4A 9 PM Tuesday October 30th, 2012

It had been over two hours since Leonard had started explaining his results, and his ideas to Sheldon. As Leonard had expected, Sheldon had quickly grasped what he had been trying to do with both the results and the theoretical side.

There were papers scattered on the table and on the couch, there were some papers they had printed out, and they had set three white boards up and those were now covered with arcane symbols, representing the math Leonard thought might explain the results.

"So, what you are trying to do," said Sheldon, "is find a way to use the shape of the reflections, as a way to verify numerical methods in use, to calculate particle interactions."

"It seems you are also trying to find a way to calculate the reflection shape for gravitons, but that doesn't work, because we can't renormalize the calculations with a spin two particle like the graviton, because we end up with infinities we can't remove."

"Yes," said Leonard, "That's basically it. But, what if we were able to find a way to limit those infinities? Could it then be, at least, an effective theory?"

"It very well could. So far, you've been able to roughly calculate the shapes of the reflections for each particle."

"Well," said Leonard, "individual particles, like the electron or a neutrino are simple. I'm still struggling with the math for the composite particles, like the proton, neutron, and all of the other particles composed of quarks."

"I was hoping you, with your deeper theoretical background, would be able to see what I was doing wrong, and possibly figure out what was wrong with my approach. For all I know, everything is wrong and you'll have to come up with something entirely different."

Sheldon continued to look over the boards and a few of the papers. Another few glances at the experimental results and he stopped and looked at Leonard. "I must say, that this is really impressive work Leonard."

Leonard looked shocked, he wasn't sure if he heard correctly, "Wait, what?"

"I said, this is really impressive work."

"I don't think you've ever said my work was impressive."

"It's rather rudimentary," said Sheldon, "but for an experimentalist, not to mention, you, it's impressive."

"That's the Sheldon I know."

"I'm not sure the spurious reflections really mean anything," said Sheldon, "as they are very weak, indicating they could just be second or third order reflections. On the other hand, they could be a reflection of one of the very weak particles. We know that gravity is a very weak force, have you thought about those reflections being the graviton?"

Leonard was surprised, he had simply assumed a second or third order reflection and had not really put the idea of weak reflection and unknown shape together with the idea for a graviton.

"You may have something there," said Leonard. "I hadn't thought about it that way before."

"Of course you hadn't," said Sheldon, "you're not a theorist, so why would you think about it?"

"Well, how about I leave this with you," said Leonard. "Work on it some, look at the shapes and maybe see if you can get the shape and calculation to match. After a few weeks, get back with me if you think you have a solution to the problem, and you think this is something that is worth pursuing. Or, maybe, you think you have a better idea."

"I'll do what I can, give me a month or so."

"Thanks, Sheldon," said Leonard. "Well, I'm off to bed, it's been a long day."

"Aren't you expecting a call from Penny?"

"Penny has a taping tonight," said Leonard, "so she won't be calling tonight." With that, Leonard gathered his papers, gave them to Sheldon, and walked up the hallway to his bedroom.

NY 5:30 AM Wednesday October 31st 2012

Penny slowly opened her eyes, trying to focus. Things were blurry, so she blinked a couple of times, but the blurriness didn't go away and she still couldn't make out where she was. Oh God, too much again last night. She was trying to piece the night together. There was the interview…the taping… then out to Jake's, with Jim Kelli, Tina, Dave and Brent, as usual…then…I was supposed to go somewhere else…where?

She tried to lift her head, but she became dizzy and let her head drop to the pillow, closing her eyes. She groaned as the familiar feelings of being hung over coursed through her. Her head hurt, her mouth was dry, and she now knew she was dizzy and her vision was blurry and on top of that, she was nauseous.

The dizziness, blurry eyes, and nausea were new. I haven't felt those before, I must have really drank way, way too much last night. Penny tried to shake her head, to clear it, but the pain was so bad she stopped.

Leaving her head on the pillow, she slowly opened her eyes. While it was still blurry, she could now make out a plain white ceiling, instead of her pink ceiling, which puzzled her. Why am I in Jeanie's guest room, and how did I get here? She tried again to sit up, and another wave of dizziness and nausea passed over her, so she let her head fall back on the pillow again.

Looking to her left, it was with a shock, she realized it wasn't Jeanie's guest room. "Where the hell am I?" she groaned, still groggy and still trying to piece the previous night together. And, now, through her dizziness and nausea, she was trying to figure out where she was.

*****************Graphic**********

Penny brushed back her hair, and then tried to rub her eyes. Her palms rubbed something that seemed to be around her mouth. She stopped rubbing her eyes, they were no clearer than they were earlier so her hand moved to brush around her mouth, but whatever it was, stayed on her face.

I have to get up. Penny finally managed to sit up, even though all the different feelings of being hung over were still there. She threw back the covers and looked down, finding she was nude. What the hell? Where are my clothes? Her brain was still groggy, but she was nude and didn't know where she was, and Penny was starting to get scared. She tried to slide to the edge of the bed, but the feeling of something damp under her, froze her. While she was still groggy, her mind was working enough to realize what it might be, and she was starting to panic.

NO. Oh God, no. She slid back and toward the edge of the bed. Looking down at where she been laying, on the bed, was an unmistakable damp spot. Running her right hand over it, feeling it's stickiness, she was horrified, now knowing exactly what it was. Noooooooooooooo. No, please no. She jerked backwards, and was rewarded with another wave of pain in her head. Letting her legs hang over the edge of the bed, she slowly lowered them to the floor. She pushed up, and although unsteady, and dizzy, she was able to stay standing. Turning, she could now see the nude body of Brent, over covers she had thrown back, laying on the other side of the bed.

Her legs weakened and she fell on the bed, her head hanging over the foot. A fresh wave of nausea hit her, but for another reason entirely. She could feel the bile rising in her throat. Though she tried to stop it, the vomit erupted out of her mouth, splashing onto the floor, then a second spasm sent more out of her mouth.

Her eyes were tearing as she rolled over on her back. Her mind was still in a fog. Just let me get home, it will all be better if I can get home. With her legs still hanging over the side of the bed, she inched that way, until her feet hit the floor. She again managed to stand, although unsteadily.

Penny saw the bathroom, and started walking toward it.

It was a struggle, but she was able to get to the bathroom door, just as she started falling. She grabbed the trim to help her stay upright, and this enabled her to reach and hold onto the sink, which helped her get to the toilet. She managed to sit before falling and took some toilet paper, and wiped herself.

Through her tears and blurred vision, she looked at the toilet paper and confirmed what her foggy brain had been telling her. She dropped the paper into the toilet, and tried to get up. It took two tries, but she was finally able to rise, and make it to the sink.

She looked into the mirror, and could see the dried material around her mouth, and now knew what it was. Breaking into heavy sobs, she turned on the water, and started to scrub her face. I have to get it off. If I scrub it off it didn't happen, it can't have happened. Penny looked in the mirror, it looked like everything that had been there, was now off, but she could still feel it, in her mind, thinking her scrubbing had done nothing.

She rinsed the taste of her vomit out of her mouth, but didn't bother to dry her face, and just stumbled back into the bedroom. On the chair and the floor next to the bed, she saw her clothes through her blurry eyes. She unsteadily walked to the chair, found her bag, and saw her script in it. At that, something tugged at her memory, but her brain still wasn't working right.

******************Graphic*************

She tried to put on her bra, but she couldn't reach back to hook it. She finally just put on her blouse over it and just stuffed her panties into her bag. When she tried to pull her jeans on, she almost fell over. Sensing something was wrong with her balance, she sat down. This enabled her to get her jeans on and then put her shoes on. Finally she threw her coat around her, using it to fully cover her. She was now sobbing and just wanted to get home.

Grabbing her bag, she stumbled to the door, realizing that she had no idea how to get out of this apartment. She walked through the bedroom door, and though her sight was still blurry, she saw she was in what appeared to be a living room.

Penny's lack of balance came close to causing her to fall backward, but even in her state, she managed to stay standing. I can't stay here, I have to get home. Please let this be a dream, please don't let this be real. She found what looked, to her, like the front door, and opened it. It led to a hallway, with an elevator at one end. Stumbling out of Brent's apartment, she didn't even close the door, and keeping her hand on the wall to steady herself, she made her way to the elevator.

Pushing the call button, she waited, sobbing. When the elevator arrived, she managed to get in and looked at the panel. She couldn't find a "1" on it, but did see a button marked "L". Hoping it would take her to the lobby, she pushed it and the doors closed.

She almost fell, as the elevator began it's decent, but grabbed the railing to keep her standing. After the elevator came to a stop, the doors opened to what appeared to be, through her blurred vision, an elegant lobby, but Penny didn't care. Trying to get out of the building, the blurriness was made worse with her eyes brimming with tears.

She managed to hail a taxi, and get in. The cabbie waited, finally saying, "Where to lady?".

Penny was trying to come up with her address, but it wouldn't come. She started sobbing lightly, and the driver said, "You okay, lady?"

"I'm fine," lied Penny.

"Then give me the address."

Penny was still confused, but something came to her, and she finally gave the driver her address.

The driver turned back and leered at Penny, then chuckled, "I don't think you are fine, but you're not walking so I'm guessing this is a ride of shame and regret."

Penny realized that her coat was open, and as she hadn't buttoned her blouse, that was open too, giving the driver a good view of most of her breasts, as her bra wasn't hooked. She gritted her teeth, pulled her coat around her tightly and said, "Just shut the fuck up and get me home as fast as you can. I said I'm fine."

"Ok, Ok, yeesh," said the driver, "can't even make a joke." She felt the cab increase it's speed. As she rode along, she tried to remember what had happened the night before, but couldn't remember anything. It came to her that this was eerily similar to what had happened with Raj, except she knew she , this time, she had actually had sex. She gave up trying to remember, and just softly sobbed.

After what seemed like an eternity, the driver stopped and said, "Here ya, go, that's Twenty-one dollars."

Penny dug through her bag, still having trouble seeing and pulled out a twenty and a ten and gave them to the cabbie, and not wanting to wait, told him to keep it, as she got out. She walked, still unsteadily, toward her building's door. While she able to hold herself up, using the door knob, she was still having trouble seeing. However, she managed to punch in her code into the electronic door look, and open the door.

She managed to work the elevator with no problems but when she made it to her apartment, she struggled with the key, as her blurry eyes still made seeing difficult, but she finally managed to get her door open. Throwing her things on the couch, she slammed the door, locked all the deadbolts, then stumbled to her bed. She fell on it, finally breaking down, and beginning to cry uncontrollably.

She wasn't sure how long it had been, but her crying finally subsided. She looked over to her nightstand to check the time, and seeing it was 6:45 thought, I have less than three hours to try to get some sleep. As she was turning back, she caught sight of the picture of Leonard next to her clock radio.

She felt ill again, and cried out, "Leonard, I'm so sorry. Sorry. Sorry, please forgive me Leonard, I'm sorry". She could feel the tears start to come, and as she again began to cry uncontrollably, she buried her face in her pillow, crying until she fell asleep.

End of Part II

A/N I'm a bit worried here. This is a rough one, I know and it wasn't easy to write, either. Parts of quite a few of the following chapters aren't a walk in the park, and haven't been much easier, and in some cases, more difficult to write. All of this was foreseen when I started, due to this being a prequel, and being somewhat locked into what was written in the other story. I did warn everyone, back in the prologue, that it would be different. I was worried about this plot twist causing some readers to abandon this, I'm hoping you'll stick around, as it's not all doom and gloom, and there are a few other twists to come, but we'll see what everyone thinks. Also, in case you missed it, this is the end of Part II.