Ella returned to her room and lay down on the bed. Chuck 'fell for' her? No, Herc has to be mistaken. Chuck is so low he couldn't fall if he wanted to. There's no way he likes her, he hates her and she hates him, that's how they work best.
After hours of contemplation Ella comes to a decision. 'One day,' she mutters, 'I'm going to think about it for one day.'
Ella retreats to the cafeteria, she doesn't have to be at work for another few hours, but she cant sit alone with her thoughts for another minute. She gets a cup of coffee and a piece of surplus toast and sits at the back of the hall. Just as she takes her first sip, who appears but the man himself.
He gets his food and stops, catching her eye before coming towards her. At first Ella panics, but then realises this is the perfect opportunity to see if Herc was right.
'You mind if I sit?' Chuck asks, Ella gives him points for politeness.
'Sure.' Ella responds, trying to acts like everything's normal. The last thing she needs is him laughing at her for thinking he likes her.
Ella watches as Chuck lifts his fork and fumbles with his knife. The cut on his hand wasn't bad, bur sue to his job Ella wrapped it well to ensure it healed quickly. She hadn't thought about his ability to hold a fork. After watching for a few minutes, she starts to laugh. At first Chuck looks angry, but when he looks up at her he bursts out laughing too.
'You just going to laugh or do you feel like helping me?' Ella continues laughing as she slides hos tray across the table and cuts up hos meat into bite sized pieces. She returns hos tray and he grabs the fork in his good hand before stabbing into his food.
'You feeling better this morning?' Ella asks,
'Yeah, although I'm having trouble remembering what happened last night.'
'You went to a bar, broke a glass and then I patched you up and took you to bed.' Chuck raises an eyebrow, and Ella corrects 'I took you to your bed before returning to the medical wing to fill out a mass of paperwork.
'Ah,' Chuck responds, 'thanks.' Ella is taken aback this is the first time Chuck has ever thanked her and she's gotten him out of stickier situations. Maybe Herc was right.
Just then, a body plops down beside Chuck and Ella looks over. Its a girl, a mechanic she recognises from the Crimson Typhoon crew. She has long dark hair and big brown eyes, she looks like a doll.
'Hi Chuckie,' she says before leaning over and kissing Chuck. Ella feels like she just had a dagger to the chest. Of course Chuck doesn't like her. He's Chuck! Ella demolishes the rest of her food and quickly excuses herself from the table, just as the girl begins feeding Chuck his lunch.
Ella returns to her room that evening and thinks about her day. Sadly, there were no new accidents today and so she had plenty of Tim to feel embarrassed about this morning. Every time she pictures them together she feels something in the pit of her stomach. She didn't like Chuck before, what's changed? She doesn't know what's different, but she doesn't think she likes him. That can't be it.
Ella is awoken from her thoughts by the sound of the alarm the words 'Kaiju in the Breach' echoes through her room and she bolts upright. She thinks of Chuck and realises this mat be her last chance to figure out what she thinks of him. She bursts through the door and runs towards the Shatterdome. She spots him about to get of the elevator, and calls to him.
'Chuck!' She yells, luckily loud enough for him to hear her.
'What?' He responds, sounding anxious, clearly wanting to Benin the Jaegar as quickly as possible.
'I just have to run a quick test.' She replies matter-of-factly as she approaches.
'Tests?' He asks, 'You can't run tests now! I have to be in a Jaegar 5 minutes ago. I don't have time to-' Chuck is stopped abruptly as Ella's lips crash into his. At first he's stunned, but quickly he realises this is exactly what he wanted, he parts her lips with his tongue and deepens the kiss, a move he comes to regret as she pulls away.
'Well?' He asks, trying to catch his breath, 'what are the results?'
'Inconclusive.' She responds, 'You'll have to come back and find out.' Ella takes a step away and smiles up at Chuck. He reciprocates and mutters 'okay' before turning and climbing into the elevator.
Ella goes to the control room, she's always required to be there incase medical advice is needed. She keeps thinking about the kiss and realises she does like Chuck, and now she's confident he likes her back. Once he gets back, they're going to have some fun.
The lights go dead and Ella is pulled back to reality.
'What happened?' Ella asks, and she's informed that the Kaiju sent out an electrical signal which has shorted Striker Eureka and rendered her useless. Ella feels her heatrate quicken as Gipsy os readied for combat. She watches the feed from Gipsy intently. At first she's not sure what is happening but eventually she's able to make out the two small figures of Herc and Chuck standing on top of Striker shooting flares at the Kaiju. It is then that Ella thinks her heart stops.
Once the battle is over, Ella goes to her room and lies on the bed facing the wall. He nearly died. She's there for a matter of minutes before she's called to fix up Herc and his broken arm. She doesn't move right away, for once she wants him in pain. There's another knock at the door and she groans as Chuck comes in.
He lies down beside her and tries to wrap his arms around her, but instead she gets up off the bed and puts on her medical jacket.
'What now?' He asks, sounding tired, this drives Ella over the edge.
'What now!' She screams, 'you nearly died Chuck!'
'But I didn't!' He yells back,
'You took a stupid risk that you didn't have to and it almost killed you, bur that's not even the worst part it was a matter of minutes since our kiss and you didn't even think about what would happen to me.' Chuck doesn't respond and so Ella leaves to fix up his father.