A/N: We all wonder, what if? sometimes.
Chuck sighed, and checked his watch. He'd only been up for half an hour, and he was already running late. Of course, it was probably because he'd only been up for half an hour, and that was why he was running late.
He sat on a remote park bench in downtown L.A., and grabbed the now crumpled up list out from his pocket. Glaring at it, he unfolded the menacing piece of paper, and wished it could just be a normal grocery list. Sadly, it was something much more deadly; the list of supplies Ellie was demanding for Chuck's twenty-seventh birthday party.
Oh, yeah. That birthday party.
With a grimace, Chuck wished he didn't love his sister so much. Because, if it was at all possible for him to break her heart, he would've turned down the mega-party, with pretty much everyone Ellie knew invited. Of course, knowing Ellie, it would've simply been marked as a surprise party, and that would be even worse.
"Balloons, check…streamers, check…specialty cake, check…well, I guess I'm on to paper lanterns next," he muttered to himself, standing up and stretching. It had been a long night, last night- the call of Call of Duty was especially strong, and he couldn't ignore it. He stared down a moment at his chafed fingers, and winced. Not at the pain in his fingers; no, at something he needed to add to his to do list. Get a life. At the moment, it came right after Get a Girlfriend.
Chuck pushed away any and all unhappy memories of Jill, which came automatically when the word girlfriend popped up. He instead focused on the option after, which was write up his five year plan. Not too likely. Chuck mentally sent that item to the bottom of his list.
He then realized that he'd been standing in the same spot for several minutes,and decided to get going before people would begin to get worried.
The Oriental Superstore was only a few blocks down, and Chuck covered the distance quickly. If he didn't get done before nine, he'd be late for the Buy More, not to mention send Ellie in a tizzy if there were items on the list that hadn't been checked off.
When he opened the door, a little bell rang, and Chuck saw an attractive blond woman having a heated discussion with the cashier. At the sound of the bell, they both quickly turned around, worry in their eyes. Plus, was that a hint of menace?
"Don't worry, I'll come back later," Chuck babbled, his mouth forming the words awkwardly. He began to exit, but was stopped at the door by the owner.
The small Asian man, several inches (if not a foot) shorter than Chuck, bowed to him. "My sincerest apologies. The customer is leaving now, and you need not go." Chuck awkwardly bowed back, wondering if it was socially corrrect in the Asian circles. He thought he saw the blonde conceal a giggle with her hand out of the corner of his eye.
Chuck took a deep breath. "No, my apologies. It appears you have business to attend to, and I don't really want to get wrapped up in it. Mister. Sir." Now, he knew he saw the blonde grinning. He glanced over at her, and she turned her head inconspicuously, studying a rack of chopsticks.
"I must insist. You stay." The black haired man moved in front of the door, and Chuck raised his eyebrows.
"Alrighty, then, I suppose I'm trapped. Where do you keep your paper lanterns?"
The blonde woman answered, her eyes still laughing at Chuck. "Come over here- they're against the wall." Amusement tinted her voice, but she turned around and began walking toward the lanterns before Chuck could say anything. He sensed a challenge, and cocked his head while following her.
"Here they are," she said rather breathlessly, and Chuck could feel her staring into his eyes. Maybe even caught in them.
"Thanks," Chuck said, barely making a noise. He began again, his voice louder. "Thanks. For helping me. With the lanterns, I mean." He cleared his throat awkwardly, at the same time she did.
"You're welcome," she breathed, and then closed her eyes and inclined her head. "You're welcome. I was happy to help. With the paper lanterns."
Chuck took a chance, and opened his mouth, forcing the words out before he could stop himself. "Do you wanna…help me pick out a few, uh…"
The blonde realized he was waiting for her name. "Oh- Sarah. Sarah Walker."
"I'm Chuck. Bartowski, if you need to know my last name, for whatever reason," he cracked, and she smiled at his little attempt at a joke.
"I'd be glad to help, Mr. Chuck Bartowski." Chuck noted how hesitant she was, but didn't chalk it up to anything beyond simply meeting a stranger in a Chinese Superstore, and being awkwardly drawn into conversation with them. Chuck knew he was taking a chance, but he felt he couldn't pass it up.
Sarah cleared her throat again. She knew she was taking a wild chance, but it was unlikely a problem would arise. She felt so vulnerable, after Bryce had simply…disappeared. With only five words for her to remember him by. It's hard to say goodbye. It was likely that the agency would apprehend him, but no one was quite sure where he was, or what he was doing. It pained her to think about how he'd only been off the grid for two days, and was already labeled as rogue.
"What's the occasion?" she asked, breaking the silence, wanting to interrupt her own thoughts.
Chuck snapped out of his own reverie, mostly concerned with accomplishing number one on his to do list. "What? Oh, it's my, well, it's a party," he stuttered, and added under his breath, "My birthday."
Sarah gave him a polite grin. "Well, then, happy birthday, Chuck."
"Actually, no, not until tonight at nine o'clock." Sarah stared at him a moment. "Sorry. I like these things to be exact." He winced, wondering if he'd offended her in some way, or made one of those aggravating social mistakes Ellie was always warning him about. Like bringing up Jill.
Her face broke out into a smile. "Well, in case you were wondering, my birthday isn't for another 38 days, sixteen hours, ten minutes, and…fifty-two seconds," she confirmed, staring at her watch. Chuck's face was split by his own smile, as he looked at the woman- Sarah- with admiration.
"You know, I've never met anyone before who could tell me their date of birth down to the second."
"Well, there's a first time for everything- it's just too bad I pulled some random numbers out of my head, or else you could've experienced it."
Chuck rolled his eyes, laughing. "I can't believe I fell for that! I really thought your birthday was on November seventh, at four twenty five and…thirty six seconds, in the morning," he calculated, considering his watch.
Sarah narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "You just made that up."
"Absolutely not! It's September twenty-ninth, at nine fifteen and- well, now, forty two seconds, and you can do the math." Chuck was, for the first time, using his skills in computers and engineering to snag a girl. Good job, buddy.
Sarah refused to give up. "There's no way you could've calculated it that fast!" she countered teasingly, but could see in his eyes that he was telling the truth.
Chuck sucked in a deep breath. "I can prove it to you, as well as give you a much-needed math lesson…if we forget the lanterns, and grab a cup of coffee."
Sarah hit him playfully on the arm, but tried to sort out her jumbled thoughts in silence. She really liked the guy, but two things stuck in her head, and wouldn't budge. The first was that, obviously, she couldn't get too involved, or else risk compromising herself in one way or another. No matter how the relationship went, it already had a death sentence, as well as a time limit that would run out whenever she was assigned to a new location.
The second problem was more nagging than the first. Three little words. What about Bryce? What about him? He could've disappeared for good, and you'd never see him again, Sarah. The use of her alias in her mind was a good sign; she was beginning to embrace Sarah Walker. New town, new identity. Of course, Chuck had helped focus it; he gave her someone to attach to the character.
Once again, Chuck. She'd only known him for under five minutes, yet he was already staining her thoughts.
At her long silence, Chuck assumed the worst. "Rain check, then?" he suggested, his smile faltering. "Or…are you in a relationship, already? I mean, a pretty girl like you…" he trailed off, not really knowing how he planned on finishing the sentence.
"No, nothing like that," Sarah quickly backed up. "It's just…I'm coming out of a relationship that ended rather abruptly, and I'm not sure if I'm ready, yet."
Chuck smiled sympathetically. He extracted Jill from his thoughts, but she'd already made her mark. "I know exactly what you mean. We don't have to dive into anything, either- I'm content with being friends." For now, were the silent words coursing through his mind. "If you wanna talk…" he handed her a business card, with the Nerd Herd stamp on it, and his personal information.
Sarah smiled, but was disappointed in herself. She already wanted him back, and she hadn't even lost him yet. "I'd love to. Rain check," she agreed, and then examined the card. "Well, no wonder you can do complex math in your head. Is the Nerd Herd, like, a secret band of geeks who go around apprehending crime through their immense knowledge?" she teased, smiling at the card. Nerd Herd. So cute. What would Bryce say? No, Sarah, it doesn't matter…
"I think you're getting us confused with the Geek Squad," Chuck clarified, and she laughed again. The tension was relieved, and Chuck's shoulders relaxed. Sarah already hated how much she loved his ability to make her laugh.
"So, a rain check, then?" Sarah clarified, and Chuck nodded fervently.
"Rain check." After exchanging a-little-more-than-friendlysmiles, Sarah exited the Chinese Superstore, feeling lucky she'd caught the early flight to L.A., instead of the later one her superiors had encouraged her to take. She'd gained a friend…who had potential to become much, much more.
Chuck shook his head, and leaned against the counter. He supposed he'd gained a friend, but he wasn't sure how friendly he could take it.
The Chinese man came up behind him, and whispered in his ear, "Watch out for her. She dangerous."
Chuck nodded dreamily. "Oh, I know. Believe me, I know." But he didn't. He had no clue.
"Are you going to pay for that lantern?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at Chuck.
"Oh-- absolutely," he replied, and layed a twenty down for the seven dollar lantern. "Keep the change." He ambled onto the sidewalk, halfway coherent. He prayed Sarah would come to pay a call, use the business card he'd left her. Any way she could be in his life had to make it better, right?
Right?
Only one day later, after Bryce Larkin had sent the email containing the highly classified Intersect and had been supposedly killed, and a certain Nerd Herd employee suddenly was, without even being aware, the most important asset the government had, things changed drastically.
Sarah was the first to know.
"No," she choked, on the phone with Director Graham, the head of the CIA. "You must have the name wrong. Are you sure it isn't something different? Anything different?" she pleaded, and there was silence on the other end of the line.
"Agent Walker, do you have a problem with that?" The Director finally spoke, and Sarah instinctively flinched at the undertone in his words.
"Of course not. I overreacted; I don't know what got into me," she backed up, and hoped there wouldn't be any more room for explanation.
"Well then, you'll continue with your job as usual, and get close to this Chuck person before the NSA does," he said, conveniently smoothing over her "error in speaking." It didn't matter to him who Chuck Bartowski was to Sarah, all that mattered was that she do her job. And since she'd promised that, he saw little use in reprimanding or questioning her.
"I don't care how- use any method you've got in your arsenal, Walker. I know you're capable of this job," Graham concluded, and disconnected, leaving an anguished Sarah Walker standing in the middle of the sidewalk in L.A., staring at the phone in her hand.
"No," she whispered one more time, letting the word fall away into the hustle and bustle of the crowds. Ironic, how she had just punched his number into her phone, and was about to hit send, thinking of speaking about much lighter matters, when she had gotten the call from Graham. His words echoed in her head. Get close to this Chuck person. They were so crude, but they were orders.
Bryce. This was Bryce's fault, even if he was dea. He'd endangered a nice, normal citizen by sending him a ton of highly classified secrets which were, ultimately, condemning. But then again, nice guys didn't get sent those sort of things, and those whom Bryce would trust wouldn't necessarily be nice guys.
Who was the real Chuck Bartowski?
Sarah couldn't stand the suspense any longer. She dialed the Nerd Herd number again, and no matter how hesitantly, the send button was pressed down. She listened to the automated auditory directory, which Chuck had recorded with his voice, and finally pressed 0 to talk to a Nerd Herd representative. Her heart skipped a beat (or two) when Chuck answered.
"Hey, Chuck? It's Sarah. I was wondering if I could take you up on that rain check…"
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A/N: The most realistic version I could conjure up of the standard question, What if Chuck and Sarah had met a different way? It was also the only one that didn't require steamy windows in the back seat of a car. Feel free to correct me if I did the math wrong, when Chuck's figuring out Sarah's birthday- and by the way, Zachary Levi's real birthday IS September 29, just in case you were sondering about the random date, to those of you who didn't know. I had to do some research for this oneshot- plus, he turned 27 on that date, too, in 2007 when the show first aired. Is that obsessive, or what?