Come Sail Away
A.N.: Disclaimers in Chapter 1, lyrics in Chapter 3, story all over. :)
"Come on, it'll be fun!" Chuck pleaded. "I can't believe you've never been out on the water for fun."
Sarah sighed. "I should never have told you," she complained. "If this is what I get for telling you one seemingly innocuous thing about myself, you're not getting anything else out of me!"
Chuck quieted. "But, I just..."
Sarah pointed a finger at his nose. "Stop right there, Bartowski. I mean it."
He ducked his head and muttered under his breath.
"What was that?" she questioned sternly. The bell above the door to the Orange Orange jingled merrily as Morgan walked in.
"Hey guys!" Morgan said cheerfully. His brain caught up to what his eyes had registered and his smile faded. "I'll just-"
Sarah summoned a smile, "Oh, I was just telling Chuck I really have no interest in going sailing, it's not my thing." She stood from the table and returned to her post behind the counter. "What can I get you?"
"Oh, not for me, my Anna Banana requires blood orange fro yo with sour gummies."
Sarah turned her back to Chuck and Morgan as she served up the treat.
"Told you being president of the Yacht Club was useless, dude," Morgan laughed.
(President of the Yacht Club?) "Um, Chuck, honey, you never mentioned that..." (Crap. Good job there, Walker.)
Chuck laughed, but Sarah heard the strain in it. "Yeah, well, when you cut me off I figured it wouldn't matter."
She handed Morgan his bounty for Anna, walked back over to Chuck, and turning his head to her, kissed him softly on the lips. "Sorry, honey, I'd love to go sailing with the President of the Yacht Club. I don't know why you didn't tell me that to start." She sat back down across from him. Her eyes held his, and she willed them to convey that the apology was genuine as Morgan nodded goodbye to them both before beating a hasty retreat.
Chuck smiled slightly. "I guess I'm not used to bragging." He plucked her hand up from the table and kissed it, and Sarah silently sighed in relief. He continued, "I wanted to just rent a little sailboat, you, me, an 'awesome' picnic basket from Ellie, and a nice day out in the bay. Deal?"
"Deal."
***
The weather was flawless that weekend, a jewel blue sky meeting a jewel blue sea.
"What do you think?" Chuck asked, confidently maneuvering the sailboat into open waters.
Sarah sat with the wind blowing through her hair and a glass of wine in hand. She smiled. "I think I should say yes to you more often."
"Well, there is this small matter of you being my real girlfriend," he teased.
She narrowed her eyes at him.
"I keed! I keed!" he replied, doing an exaggerated Triumph the Insult Dog impression. "But I do have something for you, cover girlfriend or real." Trimming the sails quickly, he reached down into one of the compartments of the boat and came up with a bouquet of wildflowers. "For you, a token of thanks for giving me a chance to share a first with you. I may not know everything about you, but I'll always know this was real."
His smile melted her. "Thanks, Chuck," she managed in a whisper, as she accepted them.
"I'm sorry about the flowers, but I don't know your favorites. Roses just seem too overdone, sunflowers and daisies seemed too obvious, and lilies and orchids remind me of funerals." Chuck suddenly paled. "Unless, oh crap, unless one of those is your favorite in which case I apologize profusely and take back any negative thing I said about them-"
Sarah laid a hand on his arm, breaking his rambling apology. "I happen to very much love wildflowers. They're perfect for today. But for future reference? Daffodils," she smiled wistfully as she added, "Or forget-me-nots."
He sat across from her and took her hand, gazing deeply into her eyes as he replied, "I never could."
A.N.: Toothache? ;) It's been a rough week at work, needed something sweet.
