It's A Hit

It had been 2 hours, 24 minutes and 47 seconds since Chuck and Olive had stepped back into the Pie Maker's life and all this time between now and then had been wasted by both of them telling him both of their stories.

Olive Snook's restaurant, "The Intrepid Cow", had had a great start but that was about all it had ever achieved as long as it existed.

Exactly 2 weeks, 5 hours, 36 minutes and 25 seconds had passed since she had to shut it down and 3 days, 7 hours, 54 minutes and 16 seconds later Olive and Randy Mann called it quits which caused Olive to straw around without a place to go or an aim in life until she remembered all the highs and the lows she had been through when she was still working at the Pie Hole and after she had thought of the most detailed but also not boring story to tell Ned when she would arrive there, she was ready to travel back into her past, hoping to be able to apply for her old job and make get her old apartment back.

Charlotte Charles' story was not as detailed as Olive's but it still took some time until she had finished her story for the Pie Maker.

As we recall, it had been 4 months, 19 days, 6 hours, 48 minutes and 52 seconds since the two of them had seen each other for the last time and exactly 4 months, 17 days, 5 hours and 14 seconds since she had started to travel the world again.

So she told Ned – and Olive – about all the cities she had been to and all the sights she had seen and visited.

She told them how she felt when she visited the Eiffel Tower in Paris, how much better the sound of the actual Big Ben was compared to all those cheap remakes for alarm clocks and cell phones and also what the Colosseum in Rome smelled like. Neither Olive nor Ned had any idea that Chuck had left some other parts out which might really matter to all of them in near future.

Right now, Ned didn't really care about anything that might really matter to him in the future. The only thing he could think of was how perfect his life had just become once again.

Olive would work by his side again and light up everybody's mood with her bubbly character and most importantly, the girl he called Chuck would light up his mood everyday.

He didn't even notice how the foolish smile he only smiled when Chuck was around returned, after 4 months, 19 days, 6 hours, 48 minutes and 52 seconds when he had always been slightly depressed.

As soon as Olive had gone off to move into her old apartment again, Ned immediately felt the need to talk to Chuck about everything he had planned for the two of them while she was away but she didn't even give him enough time to open his mouth.

"Ned, I really, really like you, and I'm sure that you know that. And I also really, really like living with you but... I thought that maybe I should live with my aunts – well, my mom and Aunt Vivian. It's just like, you know, I've been missing them so much all this time and I've never really lived with them, knowing that Lily actually is my mother so I..."

"Oh, no no. It's okay, Chuck, seriously. I – I see that that's how you feel about – all this."

"Are you sure you are cool with this? I mean, it's not gonna be forever, I just thought – maybe for a little while..."

"Yeah, of course I'm cool with that. Come on, it's your life, you decide where you wanna spend it. - Talking about life, you know life is – it's a hit. You just constantly keep on fighting against all the wrongs and the doubts it throws into your path and whenever you think you've defeated them all, it hits you right back and you find yourself rolling across the kitchen floor of your bakery, perhaps."

"Uh, Ned. You don't really sound like you could deal with this."

"I can deal with this just fine, thank you Chuck. Maybe you are the one of us who can't deal with you living away from me for a while."

What the hell was he talking there? Was he delirious?

Chuck looked at him like he was a giant, pink, talking platypus that was babbling total nonsense in front of her until she took a breath and said:

"I guess I ought to go to my aunts – uh, you know where I ought to go now. Will – Will you come visit me maybe? And please don't forget that this won't be forever..."

"I know, Chuck, I know. You know what, I'll drive you."