"Danger! Dan….urghhh" Sheldon woke with a start and immediately wished he hadn't. His head thrummed with pain and every movement made his brain bounce off the walls of his skull. He couldn't even muster an argument as to why that was a highly unlikely occurrence for someone sat on a sofa. However much it hurt though, it was nothing compared to the pain of the humiliation he felt when he remembered the incidents of the night before. Groaning, he pulled the blanket over his head and closed his eyes. He should have trusted his instincts and stayed away from the possibility of intimacy. The whole thing was just too painful. Only now, he had let his guard down and was feeling things he had never allowed himself to feel before. Penny. What had began as curiosity about an attractive woman had turned into…well, a crush. Even remembering how awfully last night had ended, he still felt his stomach lurch at the thought of her, and what they had done. How pathetic. He must put a stop to this immediately; Penny was with Jake and was clearly not interested in him. Continuing to…lust…over her was an inefficient use of his time. Resolved to put Penny out of his mind, Sheldon pulled the blanket off his head to find Leonard sat staring at him. "Care to fill me in?"

Sheldon gave him the most pointed stare he could muster. "No."

"Thank God for that. I'm going to work. There's an herbal tea brewing on the side."

Sheldon softened his stare. "Thank you". Leonard scrutinised him for another moment, then shook his head slightly and left. Whatever was going on, he was probably better off not knowing; Sheldon and Penny's disagreements were the stuff of legends.

…

Penny woke feeling much the same as Sheldon, only with the small mercy that she had at least made it to her bed before she collapsed in tears. Could you cry so much you got dehydrated? Sheldon would know…

Crap. What had she done? She felt terrible; terrible for cheating on Jake, of course, but what else? Of course…terrible for leading Sheldon on, for messing him about when she knew how difficult all this stuff was for him. She couldn't imagine how he was feeling right now; she knew he had feelings, buried under that hard science geek exterior, but she wasn't sure they were quite like anyone else's. If she had to guess, she would say angry, probably. She knew he could feel that. Embarrassed? Maybe.

Crap.

Ok, time for some perspective. It was just a kiss. No big deal.

She tried to ignore the little voice at the back of her head that was calling her a liar.

That night was Halo night. Penny debated for several hours before deciding to bite the bullet and face her fears. It was like ripping off a band aid; the sooner she got the chance to apologise to Sheldon the sooner they could put this behind them. She marched over to the guy's apartment and let herself in. "Hi guys!" There was an enthusiastic chorus of "hi Penny's" from Leonard, Howard and Raj. She quickly glanced at Sheldon, who blanched slightly and muttered "good evening, Penny". He couldn't meet her eyes. She was glad; she realised she couldn't have met his either. Damn.

The night progressed as usual for Howard and Raj, who were engrossed in Halo when they weren't sneaking glances at Penny's legs. Leonard was clearly aware of the tension but was doing a sterling job of ignoring it. Finally she found herself alone on the couch with Sheldon. She shuffled a bit closer to him.

"Hey, about last night…I'm really sorry Sheldon. I was drunk and it shouldn't have happened. Can we just…forget about it?" Penny whispered as fast as she could, eyeing the others messing about in the kitchen. Sheldon finally turned and looked at her. The eye contact startled her; suddenly she was back in the moment just before she kissed him the night before. Immediately she regretted what she had said. Not only had it sounded brutal, but she suddenly realised she didn't want to forget about it. She thought desperately for something to say to make it better, but by then the others were on their way back over and Sheldon was speaking.

"Of course, Penny. That seems to be the most sensible option, given your current romantic association with Jake." It was the answer she supposed she had hoped for, but it made her heart sink to the floor.