It's Wolfie! With another fic…although it's no longer Wicked. I'm branching out to Pushing Daisies now! It's a miracle! ;)

So…this was originally supposed to be a gift one-shot for Crys, but it kind of turned into a gift three-shot. And I've posted this already on the PD forum and the PD fanfic community on LiveJournal, so if this story seems similar…that's probably why.

Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Enemies

It all began with the pies. Chuck had made it a tradition of sorts to bake pies for her two aunts every week. Strawberry pies, peach pies, apple pies…anything she could find that was lying around, and that she felt like making. She would make them on the afternoons that Ned would be out of The Pie Hole, sometimes with Emerson, sometimes by himself. Her "pie afternoons", as she had come to calling them by herself, had become something akin to comfort; it was the best way that she could touch her aunts' lives in the only way that she knew how.

Olive Snook would happen to drop by the kitchens on various occasions when business was slow, just observing Chuck, but not saying anything. They both knew that they would have to talk about what had happened in the forest on Halloween night sooner or later, but neither of them dared to bring up the subject. It had seemed to be some sort of taboo subject, and an awkward silence would immediately descend upon the two of them should they be together alone. Both were still unsure of where they stood in their friendship.

Finally, Chuck decided that enough was enough. If Olive wouldn't talk, then she would start the conversations. Taking a break from her latest peach pie, she walked out of the kitchens in into the restaurant, where Olive was sitting with a cup of coffee. The only people in The Pie Hole at the moment were two old men in one booth reading newspapers, and a young couple in another.

The blonde waitress didn't even notice Chuck coming towards her, until Chuck called her name. "Olive?" Chuck repeated. "I'm making pies for my aunts. You wanna help?" Her eyes widened almost innocently, something that she did subconsciously when she asked a question.

"You mean your aunts who think that you're dead?" Olive retorted. The half-pleading, half-exasperated look that Chuck gave her almost made Olive regret saying what she just had said. Almost. She glanced around the store, but seeing no reason for her to refuse Chuck's offer, shrugged. "Why not?" Perhaps she would be able to figure out another way to divert Ned's attention from Chuck to herself in the meanwhile. What was it they said? "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer," wasn't it?

Olive wasn't sure, however, if she would consider Chuck her enemy. Certainly, the brunette was in the way of her gaining Ned's affections. However, during all the time that they had spent together during the murders around and during Halloween, something had developed in Olive. She wasn't sure what it was, but it certainly wasn't hatred. Frienemies she decided. We can be frienemies.

She drained the last of her coffee and followed Chuck into the kitchen, where the half-finished pie had been abandoned in the middle of the table. "So what is it you want me to do?" she asked, situating herself in a chair by the sink.

Chuck gestured to the slightly pathetic looking pie. "Help me with the pie," she said. She paused, confused, as Olive gave a small laugh. "What?" she demanded. "What's so funny?"

"Hasn't Ned told you that I can't bake?" Olive asked. "I was hired to be a waitress, not a baker. You don't want me poisoning your aunts, do you?"

"Nonsense," Chuck said firmly, putting her hand on Olive's arm and dragging her over to the pie. "Anyone can bake. All it takes is a little practice. Or…a lot of practice. Look, I'll show you. I promise that you won't poison anyone. But to be on the safe side, we could always keep this one to ourselves, and I could bake another one for my aunts."

"And poison the customers here instead?" Olive suggested, the hint of a smile showing on her face. "Perhaps Emerson would do."

Chuck laughed. "That's the spirit, Olive. Now, as I learned from this old cookbook that I found at my aunts' house…"

Definitely frienemies, Olive thought as Chuck began a complicated explanation on peach pie that reminded the waitress of her math classes. Chuck is definitely a frienemy.

So Chuck's "pie afternoons" soon became Chuck and Olive's "pie afternoons". Somehow, in the days that they spent in each other's company, they managed to avoid the topic that they had needed to discuss in the first place. It had almost become an unspoken understanding that there was no need to discuss it anymore. The two secretly enjoyed each other's company, and that was that.

Chuck loved the way that Olive would walk around, trying to balance two or three pies in her arms without falling over. She loved Olive's slightly sarcastic sense of humor. She was grateful for the time that she got to spend with her. She learned that Olive had come from a small town in another state, but had moved here when she was twenty. She learned that Olive's favorite type of pie was kiwi (which Chuck found a little strange, but stored it away in her mind for later). She learned that Olive had trained for several years in singing as a child, and had a beautiful voice. The more Chuck learned about Olive, the more she found herself knowing more.

Olive, on the other hand, loved the way Chuck laughed, and how her smile lit up the room. She loved the way that Chuck cared about everyone around her, even if she had never met those people before. She was glad for the company on the long afternoons when The Pie Hole was more or less empty. She learned that Chuck had lived with her two aunts since her father had died of unexplained causes. She learned that Chuck enjoyed music and could play the piano. She learned that Chuck could speak several different languages fluently: French, German, Swedish, Chinese, and Japanese. The more Olive learned about Chuck, the more she wanted to know.

They found themselves looking forward to their "pie afternoons". There, they were free to talk about anything. Olive found an attentive listener in Chuck, and Chuck found someone who she could finally connect with in a more intimate way in Olive.

Not that Chuck couldn't connect with Ned. Of course she could; she understood his fears, his doubts, his uncertainties. Or did she? Ned never opened himself up to her, except for a few rare occasions. It was hard to get close to someone she couldn't touch, and since Ned didn't like to talk about emotional issues, it was doubly difficult. Ned would rather run from issues that to lay them out on the table to discuss.

Olive, however, didn't do that. She was blunt, always saying what she felt and feeling what she said. Therefore, it became almost easier for Chuck to talk to Olive about how she was feeling. She would tell Olive her frustrations with not being able to see her aunts and her inability to do anything exciting with her life. Olive would listen.

Olive found quite a playful spirit in Chuck as well. The not-dead-girl had a fondness for humor, even in the most serious times. It came as no surprise to Olive that when she accidentally got a little flour on Chuck, the brunette retaliated with a handful down Olive's back.

Olive turned and gave Chuck her fiercest glare, which wasn't that scary, seeing that it was coming from a four foot, eleven inches woman. Chuck, being not intimated at all, just blinked innocently and smiled. Olive, of course, had to retaliate, and this soon escalated into a flour fight. Which soon turned into an all out food fight.

Olive was silently thankful that there were no patrons in the restaurant that night. She was sure that they would be scared away by the copious amounts of noise and war cries coming from the kitchen at that point. Somehow, in the mess they had made, Chuck ended up slipping on the flour that had found its way onto the kitchen floor. Before Chuck's head could hit the floor face-first, which would undoubtedly result is a nasty mess all over, Olive dove forward, caught Chuck, slipped herself, and ended up in a very compromising position, with Chuck's face pressed up against hers, and with both of them panting and sweating, as if they had just run a marathon.

Chuck chose that time to look up at Olive to thank her, but as she opened her mouth, no sound came out. There, standing in the doorway, was a shell-shocked Ned.

I've actually already finished this story…so next chapter should come relatively soon. As in…maybe tomorrow or the day after that.

-Wolfie