The Buy More doors bowed out of the way, allowing the blonde woman to enter with a grace that nerds think only physically attuned, confident, attractive people can have. Buy More employees are not accustomed to dealing with these kinds of people.

That's why after every employee (bar one) had studied the stunning lady for at least a full second, they all quickly made themselves busy, scarce or both.

Brandon was behind the Nerd Herd desk facing the back of the store, humming Arcade Fire while he programmed a chess bot to defeat his friend Eric's. He didn't notice when someone arrived at the front of the desk.

After all, if someone wanted him they'd ring the bell wouldn't they?

"Ahem."

Or they could clear their throat, he thought drily.

He looked up into a beautiful smiling face and all his misgivings vanished.

He stood up quickly, his chair rolling away to an unknown distant location. "Uhhhuh-hi-hi, I'm, I'm…" he paused then started searching the desk for a label, mug, anything that could remind him of his own name. Spotting a badge he grabbed it. "I'm… uhhh…" Brandon frowned.

"That says you're Eric." She pointed out amusedly.

"Well yes, of course, but my friend is Eric, I'm not Eric, Eric likes to switch our name badges because they're different and he thinks its funny, but it's not that funny anymore we are much funnier than that usually." Brandon stopped and thought. "I was rambling, I'm sorry, uhhh, how may I help you?"

"Well I have this-"

"Brandon!" he exclaimed, clicking a finger.

"Sorry?"

"Oh, right, my name's Brandon although if you hear 'the Don' that's probably me also. Sorry for interrupting you."

"Right ok, well, Brandon" she said, adding an emphasis to the 'don' in his name. "I have a VERY old, broken, phone, I was hoping you could help me with." She reached into her purse then gently placed an Intellicell on the desk.

Brandon frowned, biting his lower lip for a few seconds while he tried to remember anything he knew about this type of phone.

Then it hit him.

"This'll just take 2 minutes, no trouble at all, yes this was a common problem a while ago there's just a little screw at the back…"

He continued to mumble to himself while he fixed the phone, not noticing the way she watched his every move with a strange sadness.

Brandon put the cover back on the phone with a click of his tongue then placed it on the desk.

"Good as ne- well not quite good as new. It is very, VERY old indeed, this was popular what 5-6 years ago? Back in '07?"

With a smile she took the phone from the desk. "What can I say, I'm an old school kind-of gal. You know, Sean Connery, Tron…" She leaned forward mischievously. "… Arcade Fire."

He blushed and swallowed nervously. "Well, Arcade Fire doesn't deserve to be on that list because they aren't that old, they're still… on fire." He finished, widening his eyes and flashing his hands like a magician.

Sarah laughed.

Hard.

Harder than she should but Brandon doesn't know how much of it is simply relief to know that there are still good people out there. And somehow that little pun made her realise it.

"I'm sorry" she said, catching her breath, "I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Sarah."

"Sarah", he repeated.

She nodded, continuing. "I'm new to town and, if you're free, I was hoping you could show me round?"

Brandon felt a million squirmy things in his stomach all come awake at the same time. Why would a girl like her- Oh. Then it all clicked into place. "Ahhhahaha I get it, Eric sent you didn't he. This is another one of his jokes, VERY FUNNY GUYS." He finished raising his voice to no one in particular. Giving a quiet chuckle he looked back to Sarah only to see a confused expression on her face.

"I don't actually know any Eric's" she admitted shyly, looking a little crestfallen.

It all unclicked. "Oh my god, I am so, so sorry, I am so stupid it's just Eric likes to play a lot of games and I was trying to think of why a girl like you", she smiled at that, "would want a guy like me to show you-I'm going off the train tracks here, look, I'm sorry. Can I make it up to you? Buy you dinner, give you the grand DC tour at, say, 7?"

She smiled but her response was cut short by his warning.

"As long as you don't mind riding in a Nerd Herd company car."

She smirked.

"I think I'll be more comfortable than you think."

Brandon and Sarah were cozied up in a nice Italian restaurant, enjoying the pasta and atmosphere. Eric was surprised that she was there but he was even more surprised that she seemed accustomed to dealing with people like him, nerds, shy, nervous, NERDS who he knew were very interesting people once you could get them comfortable.

He was just glad and curious that she seemed to know that too.

"So, Sarah, why have you decided to come to the capital of our, great, nation?"

She looked thoughtful then sighed. "Honestly… I just came out of a long relationship with…"

She swallowed, glanced down but took a deep breath and continued before he could let her stop. "I was in love with a guy called Chuck."

She paused, sighed and mumbled.

"I kind-of still am."

Brandon frowned, something common when facing an enigma like this woman. "Well what are you doing here? Why don't you go drag him to a hotel room or something? If you love him go and take him, I'm sure he couldn't say no."

She looked away, and the words seemed to come so fast from her mouth that he wondered if she'd even thought them. "I can't."

She closed her eyes and her next words were lower than a whisper. "He's dead."

Brandon mentally kicked himself then focussed on the human in front of him, who's sadness was HIS fault. Why did he enter the dangerous topics zone? Everyone knows pasts are unsafe. Quickly, he thought, damage control.

"I'm sorry I never should've asked you about your past, we can-"

"No" she said firmly, her eyes like a hammer if he was a nail. "If there's one thing I learnt from Chuck it's to be open about my past. It's the only way to move on." She sighed, again, noticing the beauty in the table that only absent-minded people can see. "And I do need to move on."

Silence said more than words could.

Brandon's mind was moving faster than the ISS in it's orbit around Earth. Did she have to move on? Maybe she was rushing it.

He opened his mouth.

"He asked me to move on." She mumbled. "In his will."

Her hands were rubbing the woolen sleeve of her sweater. Brandon couldn't think of anything profound to say, so he went with something else.

"Ok".

She met his eyes and found acceptance there. With that reassurance she nodded, swallowed, sighed, then continued. "After… after the funeral I realized that all his friends were my friends, my FAMILY and as nice as they were they were always going to remind me of him. I also had a… a bad accident and lost a lot of my memories of him." She sighed again. "So that's why I came here." She finished, awkwardly.

Brandon nodded. "That makes sense."

He still didn't know what to say and he didn't think he was very good at playing doctor. What did she say before? Get the past out in the open? A silence was growing so Brandon let his rational side go and let his rambling side take over.

"So this… Chuck?" She nodded. "He must have been a really great guy to have gotten a great girl like you. I can already tell you're strong, smart, cool and extremely beautiful." He quickly checked himself – no taking advantage, he chastised. "But uhh yeah, why don't uhhh… why don't you tell me about him? About Chuck? As much as you remember? Like, how'd you guys meet?"

Sarah looked thoughtful for a moment, like she had deja vu. But she nodded. "Ok, I'll lay it all out. It's a long story though and obviously there will be a few gaps." Brandon gave his consent with his eyes. "Ok", she breathed.

"This is everything I know about Chuck."