Chuck in a Moment

Chapter 4: All I Want Is You

CAST (in order of appearance):
Chuck Bartowski – Zachary Levi
Sarah Walker – Yvonne Strahovski
Veronica Mars – Kristen Bell
John Casey – Adam Baldwin
Diamonds By the Sea owner – Matthew McConaughey

4:01 A.M., Pacific Daylight Time
Monday, July 6th, 2008
Eagle House Victorian Inn, Eureka, California

Chuck sat bolt upright in bed. "Holy shit! I know how they're tracking us!"

The exclamation pulled Sarah from her sleep. She sat up, looked at Chuck, and then held a finger to her lips. She grabbed the notepad and wrote, You've got to keep it quiet if we don't want them to catch on to us.

Chuck took the notepad and started to write something back, and then he had a better idea. Reaching down from the bed, he grabbed his backpack, opened it up, and pulled out his laptop. Made by Alienware, it was a fantastic high-end gaming platform, but right at that moment, all he needed was Microsoft Word.

You know how Casey's a big fan of tracking nanocells, right? he typed. Puts them in food, coffee, that kind of thing, so he can keep track of people.

Right, Sarah typed back. You think he's tracking our bodies?!

Not possible, Chuck replied. Neither of us has had any food or drink that could have been exposed to him since the 28th or 29th. They all would have passed out of our systems by now.

So where would they be? Sarah typed, a curious look on her face.

The fluids in your car, Chuck said. Obviously the ones in the gas get burned off fairly quickly, but the oil, the power steering fluid, the transmission fluid, the brake fluid, the coolant, the wiper fluid, hell, probably even the Freon in your air conditioner.

So, the answer then is to flush the systems, Sarah typed. That's going to be difficult. I don't want to take the car anywhere but a Porsche dealership to have that done, and we're not going to run across another one of those on our route till we hit Seattle.

Chuck looked over at her and smiled. That's okay, he typed. Gives us another couple days to screw with their heads.

6:30 A.M.

Veronica was tired. She still had the headphones on. The last two and a half hours had been excruciatingly boring. Just after she put the headphones on, there had been a few minutes where it sounded like one of the two was typing on a laptop, but she figured that it was Chuck – he'd probably had a flash of inspiration about his next video game.

After that, it had been nothing but breathing and snoring.

Until now.

"Good morning," she heard Chuck say, his voice thick with sleep.

"Mmm… morning," was the reply from an equally tired sounding Sarah Walker.

"Why are you up already?"

"Might ask the same…"

Then she heard what sounded distinctly like a kiss, followed by rustling cloth – probably the sheets being thrown off the bed.

"Oh, please God, no," Veronica whined softly.

Then there was a moan, and Sarah said something unintelligible. A disgusted look crossed Veronica's face, and yet, she sat there, in rapt attention.

The noises increased – from both parties. Veronica's eyes got wider. A flush began to creep up her cheeks.

"This is the most fucked-up job I've ever had," she whispered.

6:51 A.M.

John Casey slowly came awake. He looked around the dimly lit room. The surveillance station was abandoned, and there was nobody sleeping on the floor – and all of Veronica's personal effects still sat on the nightstand.

"What the hell?" he said quietly. "Mars! Mars, where the hell are you?!"

The bathroom door swung open, and the diminutive FBI agent popped out. Her hair was mussed, her eyes wide. Her face was bright pink, and there was a distinctly guilty look on her face.

Casey studied her for a moment. "What the hell were you doing in there?" he finally asked.

"Nothing," she replied, a little too quickly. "Uh, nothing at all."

A ghost of a smile crossed Casey's face. "Riiiight."

4:00 P.M.
Newport, Oregon

Casey and Veronica's entire drive up from Eureka had been spent in silence, interrupted only by the occasional comment from one to the other. Veronica spent the entire time staring at her laptop screen, refusing to carry on a conversation with Casey.

Of course, there was no good way to get around the awkwardness – Casey thought it was hilarious that he'd woken up just as Veronica was, as he put it, "finishing herself off". Veronica, on the other hand, failed to see the humor in it.

Part of it was, of course, a certain measure of jealousy. She'd spent the better part of a year being a supportive friend to Chuck, helping him to get through one of the toughest times of his life. She'd also had what she considered to be one of her more productive relationships with him – certainly more so than the insanity that was Duncan Kane, or the self-destructive cycle that was Logan Echolls, or the sheer stupidity that was Piz Piznarski.

And then, Sarah Walker had come waltzing back into his life, and what did he do? Why, he became a fugitive with her, fleeing to Catalina Island and hiding out there. Veronica had never said it to Chuck – would never say it to him – but she had felt betrayed when he had done that.

She understood, though. In fact, she realized there was a pretty powerful parallel to the idiotic stunt she had pulled with helping Duncan flee the country there, but that didn't make it hurt any less.

Veronica had watched in silence as Chuck and Sarah had checked into the Elizabeth Street Inn. She had remained silent as Casey pulled back out of the parking lot, went around the block, and came back to the Shilo Inn, down the street. He went into the office, and did his usual job of "negotiating" – in other words, pulling out his NSA card and threatening the manager with the words "national" and "security". When he came back out, he reported proudly that he had obtained a room with a direct line of sight to the window of Chuck and Sarah's room.

"Oh, joy!" Veronica had remarked sarcastically. "So that means we can have not only audio, but we can get a high definition video feed as well!"

"You would be into that kind of thing, wouldn't you?" Casey replied with a smirk.

Chuck and Sarah hadn't stayed at the hotel very long, though. They had left on foot, walking up the beach. That made it a little difficult to track them. Casey had to drive slowly up residential streets, with Veronica in the back seat, using one of her telephoto lenses on her camera to keep track of them.

Occasionally, they would disappear behind a beachfront property, but come back into view a moment later. Veronica actually was pretty impressed with the fact that Casey was able to mostly keep them in sight and re-find them every time they disappeared.

At one point, though, they turned and walked almost directly toward the Crown Vic. Casey quickly drove up the street and turned into a driveway. As Veronica watched from her crouched-down position in the back seat, Chuck and Sarah strolled leisurely down Twenty-First Street back toward the Pacific Coast Highway.

When they reached the PCH, the pair turned left and headed north again. Casey followed very slowly, leaving at least a block between the Crown Vic and their quarry. A moment later, though, they turned and entered a strip shopping center. Casey accelerated, and pulled into the parking lot.

He pulled in just in time for Veronica to watch as they entered a shop called Diamonds By the Sea. Her breath caught in her throat. It felt like a rock had settled in her stomach.

Casey looked in the rear view mirror and caught the expression on her face. "It's called jealousy, Mars," he remarked casually – and rather callously, she felt. "You'll get used to it."

"Thanks a lot, Casey."

"They don't have a clue," Chuck whispered, almost giggling. "Although, I do have to give them credit for keeping track of us while we were on the beach. I didn't even notice them until we crossed that first street by the ocean."

"Wait, you saw them then?" Sarah asked. "Dammit, I'm slipping. Where were they?"

"Parked in a driveway five houses up the street. I only saw them because I was actively looking for them," he admitted.

Sarah gave him a look. "You're supposed to be enjoying your time with me, not keeping an eye out for Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Ex-Girlfriend."

Chuck was about to say something in response, but he was interrupted by the jeweler – a guy in his sixties, with long hair, who looked like he had smoked his share of pot back in the 1960s – his share, and his brother's share, and his mother's share.

"Greetings, folks!" he said in a voice that made him sound like he was perpetually stoned. "What can I do for you this fine afternoon?"

"Well," Chuck said, a smile appearing on his face, "we are actually in need of an engagement ring."

"Whoa!" the guy said. "Congratulations!"

"Don't congratulate too quickly," Sarah said cheekily. "He hasn't actually asked me yet."

The stoner jeweler turned to Chuck, a look of shock on his face. "Dude!" he objected. "Are you nuts? You gotta ask the lady!"

Chuck rolled his eyes. "Oh, but she wants it to be PERFECT," he replied. "On the beach, under the moon, big rock – all that."

"Well, full moon this week, dude."

"I'm aware, thank you," Chuck said irritably. "I was actually hoping you could help us out with the 'big rock' part of that."

"Right on, dude. What were you thinking? Diamond? Birthstone? Something crazy?"

"I was actually thinking a little bit of all three," Sarah said. Chuck looked over at her, and it seemed as if he had a big WTF? written across his forehead. "What?" she said. "I'm the one who's going to be wearing it for the rest of my life."

And with that statement, Chuck smiled and softened a little. "Okay," he replied. "So, what do you think?"

"Well, what's the birth month?" the jeweler asked.

"June," Sarah replied.

"Oh, man, alexandrite, sweet. Okay, let me see what I got. I'll be right back."

As soon as he left the room, Sarah turned to Chuck, a barely concealed smirk on her face. "How much pot do you think he's smoked in his lifetime?"

Chuck smiled back. "Probably enough to make Snoop Dogg and Willie Nelson look like amateurs."

Sarah shook her head. "I could never see the appeal," she said. "All the people I knew who smoked it just ended up strung out and paranoid."

"Hey, it's not THAT bad," Chuck replied, speaking before thinking. "It can actually be a little relax…ing…"

Sarah's eyes had narrowed, and she was giving him a look that made Chuck a little uncomfortable. "So you've tried it, then?"

Chuck shrugged. "What can I say – I did go to college just down the road from San Francisco." Then a thought occurred to him. "It was Bryce's fault, anyway."

Sarah's eyes went wide in astonishment. "NO," she said incredulously. "Are you telling me that straight-laced, upper-crust New Englander Bryce Larkin smoked the wacky weed?"

"WAY more than I ever did," Chuck replied, a smile creeping back onto his lips. "Our sophomore year, he was a gigantic pothead."

"Nothin' at ALL wrong with that, bro," the jeweler interrupted, coming out of the back. "Calms the nerves."

He set a blue velvet box on the counter in front of him. "Take a look, folks."

Chuck picked up the box and opened it. "WOW," he breathed, taking the ring in.

Sarah looked. "Oh my goodness."

The centerpiece of the ring was a one carat diamond. It was surrounded by one-quarter carat alexandrite stones on either side, with a one-tenth carat sapphire and a one-tenth carat emerald both above the stone and below it. The setting was unique – it was a dual band sort of setup. The interior band was made of 14-karat gold, and the exterior band was two very narrow strips of platinum, with a strip of mother-of-pearl running between them.

Sarah's face looked like that of a five year-old on Christmas morning. "This ring is unbelievable," she whispered.

Chuck grinned. "Is that what you want?"

"Oh yeah," she said softly.

"Well, let's see how it fits, get it sized," the jeweler said. He took the box back and removed the ring. Sarah held out her hand, and the jeweler was about to slide the ring on, when he stopped and turned to Chuck. "You want to do the honors, bro? You know, get a little practice in?"

Veronica's face had turned to stone as she watched through the telescopic lens. She could see the huge smiles on both Chuck and Sarah's faces as he slid the ring onto her hand, and then took it back off and handed it to the jeweler.

"Let's go, Casey," she said in a wooden voice. "They'll be fine. It's not like they're going anywhere without the Porsche."

Casey was going to say something, but when he turned and saw her face, he decided it would be in his best interests to keep quiet. Starting up the Crown Vic, he put it in gear and pulled away.

"No sizing needed at all, bro," the jeweler said in astonishment. "It's like it was made for her!"

Chuck smiled – and then sighed. Time to ask the big question.

"How much is the damage gonna be on this?"

The jeweler looked at him, then at Sarah, then at the ring. Stepping back behind the counter, he pulled out a calculator. "Um… let's see… ring… no sizing… tax… eighteen thousand, six hundred thirty-two dollars and forty-one cents."

"Holy Christ," Chuck gasped.

"Come on, I'm worth it, and you know it," Sarah teased him.

"That is SO more than two months pay for me," Chuck grumbled.

"Yes, but you're a highly successful video game designer on the side, remember?" Sarah said sweetly.

"Guess I better get to writing a new one then."

The jeweler's eyes went wide, as his pot-baked brain finally came to a realization. "Oh, dude, I KNEW I recognized you!" he said. "You're the guy who wrote that game about the guy with the database in his head!"

Chuck smiled. "Guilty as charged," he said, reaching in his pocket to withdraw his wallet.

As he pulled out his American Express, the jeweler looked at Sarah. "And that must make you the chick who jumped off the bridge!"

"Yeah," Sarah replied slowly. "Not my finest moment."

"What are you talking about?!" the jeweler exclaimed as he took Chuck's credit card. "That was HARDCORE! And then you showed back up, and then you guys got all the charges dropped – that was unbelievable! They ought to make a movie about it!"

Chuck laughed as he took his credit card back and was handed the box. "Believe me when I say, that's pretty much the last thing we want."

Ten minutes later, as they were walking back toward the hotel, Sarah asked, "You're not going to keep that thing on you, are you?"

"Uh, yeah!" Chuck replied. "I'm not giving it to you till I'm good and ready."

Sarah laughed and shook her head. "Just trying to be helpful, since the last time you had a ring in your custody, it went missing in a gigantic fish."

"Yeah well," Chuck shot back, "there's no Morgan around to steal it from me, and no Fulcrum around to taunt me with it. Is there?"

"God, I hope not," Sarah breathed. "Although I'm not sure which I'd be more worried about showing up!"