A/N: I was under the advisement of mxpw to post this to offset the other fic. I wasn't convinced you guys needed it, but you can prove me wrong.

Chapter 6:

"Having fun?" Sarah asked as she sidled up against Carol, the mischief painted by her dancing eyes and eager smile.

"Well, I don't really get the reason for all this excitement but it is exciting just to be a part of it," her friend replied. Taking a sip of her drink, she looked perplexed. "Why don't we ever get to go to conventions like these again?"

"Because it's not a game when we do it," Sarah teased. Looking over her friend's shoulder, she spies her husband and his best friend chatting animatedly with a group of men in suits.

"So...this your first time?" Carol asked.

Sarah shrugs. "No, but I'm afraid I still don't quite understand all the excitement even after all these years." They shared a laugh. For once Sarah didn't feel quite so alone at these events. No matter how much he refuted the fact, Chuck was still one of them and now finally she had someone to share her point of view.

Checking her phone, she mused to herself why she hadn't received a call yet. "I wonder how Casey is doing with Chuck."

Carol looked surprised. "Oh, is John back in town?"

Sarah smirked. John? she wanted to tease. They were on a first name basis after only one date?

"Just for a weekend. Why...interested?"

Carol stuck out her tongue, purposely turning her body away so she wouldn't have to face the annoying over-eager smile of her friend.

"Although Casey will probably never come back after he's babysat for us."

Carol smiled. "That's so sweet. I had no idea he liked kids."

Sarah agreed. She wasn't so sure about kids, but she knew he had a soft spot for Charlotte.

"Yeah, well we're all going out for dinner tomorrow night after we get back to LA. You should come—oh—" Sarah stopped when she realized her mistake but it was too late. She had no choice but to finish what she was going to say. "Unless this thing with Morgan—"

Carol shook her head. "It's not anything official. I'm just testing the waters." Taking a deep breath, Carol finished off her drink and grimaced. "It's been awhile since I've had to dive back into the dating pool."

Sarah could sympathize. The woman had been married to her ex for a long time, though they had been a lot more straightforward about their courtship than Sarah and Chuck. It had to be difficult breaking out of the comfortable stability and making your way alone into the world again.

Stepping on tip-toe, Sarah stole a glance at her husband. Somehow, despite all the distance that separated them and all the noise in the auditorium, Chuck knew to turn his head at the precise moment her eyes found him.

His smile instantly brightened and he gave her a subtle wave.

Carol rolled her eyes. "How do you do that?"

"Do what?" Sarah asked, truly innocent to the love-sick way she behaved sometimes.

Carol pointed in the direction of their respective dates. "How can you look at him as if you haven't seen him in years when you see him everyday?"

Sarah wrinkled her brows. "I don't," she said. "All I did was smile at him."

"No. You definitely did not just smile at him," she refuted. "It was so much more."

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Don't be disgusting, Carol," she said, a distinct blush growing on her cheeks.

Her friend just laughed. "You're so cute when you're embarrassed," she teased.

"I am not!" Sarah exclaimed though the blush was only growing redder. They were married for Heaven's sake and all she did was smile but somehow Carol made her feel as if she'd done something obscene.

"Sarah," Carol said as she wrapped her arm around her. "It's a good thing," she emphasized. "You should take it as a compliment."

There was a presentation in the afternoon about something or other. Sarah wasn't especially fascinated with the topic, but it was the only excuse she had to sit down for a change. Carol and Morgan had slipped off for a late lunch together, and though there was plenty of room in the rental, Sarah didn't want to look too interested in her friend's love-life.

And as usual at these type of events, Chuck was nowhere to be found.

So she had an hour or two to herself and nothing to do except perhaps stare at the blank screen ahead of her.

"Oh my God, Sarah Bartowski?"

Sarah looks up from her seat. As everyone mills around the auditorium preparing to find a spot, one person has stopped in the stream of bodies.

"Diane!" she greets, genuinely surprised to recognize someone at this function.

Diane turns and waves for the others to join them and soon Sarah is surrounded by somewhat familiar faces. They are all wives of Chuck's colleagues, and they are all generally as clueless about what their husbands did as Sarah. It was a perfect departure from all the techno-babble.

Though the alternative wasn't all that better.

"Sarah, it's been awhile. We haven't seen you around in a long time!"

"I know. Well, after the baby I just never found the time to travel."

Nor did she want to.

"Oh! Good for you! Do you have photos?"

Sarah obliged them with a couple from her wallet and everyone gathered around her to ooh and ahh. She had to agree with Ellie that the frilly white dress didn't look half as silly when it was actually on the baby. And Charlotte, of course, knew how to ham it up for the camera.

She knew she was biased because she was Charlotte's mother, but she'd honestly never seen a baby more beautiful and adorable.

Sarah stared at the images, feeling her heart ache and her fingers itch to speed dial Casey for an update.

"They grow up so fast don't they?" one woman said. "Oh, you know I just paid five hundred dollars for my daughter's first ballet shoes. It's so precious. Here let me show you."

Five hundred dollars? Sarah tried not to look so surprised because none of the other wives were. And it wasn't like Chuck and her didn't have the money but still...five hundred dollars?

Sarah saw the photo and it changed her mind completely. It was precious. And like most things for toddlers, completely and utterly impractical.

Sarah could see herself splurging on her own daughter. It wasn't rational, but love never was.

"Have you thought of ballet for Charlotte?" the same woman asked.

"Um...no, she's still at the stage where she falls if she runs too fast," Sarah explained. And Charlotte hated being told what to do so she couldn't imagine that a stranger ordering her child around would bode well.

"Oh, but you have to start them young!"

Really? That young? Their daughters were approximately the same age so it was a bit perplexing.

Again, Sarah tried not to look so doubtful. Everyone else seemed to think this was completely normal.

"You do! My daughter started piano lessons before she could reach the keys. You have to start them young if you want them to succeed."

You do want Charlotte to succeed, don't you? was what they were really asking.

Sarah gulped. Of course she did. She wanted the world for her.

Before she became a mother, she thought this overwhelming parenting-babble would fade and she'd become another one in their fold when her turn came. Now Charlotte was here and she was still just as confused and flabbergasted by what she didn't know.

Well, at least she hasn't tried to sell her daughter for cash or leave her alone at home next to hazardous equipment. Then again, she did drop Charlotte off for an afternoon with her uncle Morgan...

"Charlotte's preschool is running a play and she's been cast as the lamb." She doesn't know how else to relate to them, but it's not exactly newsworthy material.

"Oh! Have you chosen the fabric?" someone asked.

"Huh?" Sarah turned to the speaker. "Why?"

"Well, I assume you're going to make it yourself."

Sarah broke out into a smile. "Why, are lamb costumes hard to find for toddlers?" And here she thought the makers of children's things had a fetish for farmyard creatures.

"Well, aren't you going to make it?" someone else asks, in a tone that suggests she ought to.

Sarah paled. She can do a lot of things that aren't appropriate for a résumé, but sewing was not one of them.

"Oh, I remember when I made my daughter's first costume. It was so precious. She was the ladybug..." Diane recalled.

"Oh! My daughter's first costume was an otter. You will not believe how hard it is to get the whiskers right—"

"Wait! Wait!" Sarah held up her hands. Hold on here! "You guys all made the costumes yourselves?"

The wives looked at her as if she'd just asked to confirm that two plus two was indeed four.

"Well...yeah. Aren't you?"

Sarah walked over to her husband's side and looped her arm around his elbow, pressing herself close against him. It was a benign gesture and yet Chuck stopped in mid-sentence, struggling to remember what he meant to say to the man in front of him.

"Um...let's finish after um...the demonstration? Let me...uh...give you my business card."

The stranger looked at Sarah and seemed to understand Chuck's predicament.

"No problem, Mr. Bartowski, I'll give you a call," the man said with an envious smile.

Chuck laughed nervously as he turned to his wife.

"Phew...it's been one heck of a day, huh?" he asks, still all smiles when it came to her.

Sarah grinned and leaned forwards to kiss him sweetly on the cheek. "I'm officially ready to go home now," she whispers into his ear.

Chuck laughed. "Why? Sick of being alone with me already?"

Sarah grimaced. "Chuck's play is on Monday. I have to make a lamb costume by then and I haven't even started."

It was the oddest excuse Chuck had ever heard. "Why don't we just buy—"

"No, Chuck, I'm perfectly capable of doing this for my daughter," Sarah insisted, flaunting her excess of stubbornness.

Chuck paused for a moment, unsure what to make of all this. He looked positively mischievous when he leaned down by her ear. "You sew?" he whispered in shock.

Not about to admit her shortcomings, Sarah flushed with indignation.

"Well of course I sew," she informed.

Chuck shrugged. "Sorry, I guess I forgot about all the pillows and pincushions you've made for us at home."

Sarah pinched him and the man struggled not to break out in laughter or wince in pain. Keeping a straight face, he pulled his wife closer, hiding his laughter in her long, golden hair.

"You know, if I'm going to suffer, you're going to suffer with me," she reminds in his ear. "I'm not going to bed until that costume is finished."

For the first time, Chuck takes the predicament very seriously. He pulls a face. "Couldn't we just toss a pillow case over her head and call her the ghost of the lamb that was?"

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Chuck!" she scolded. "Don't be ridiculous!"

Then, after some time, she saw his point.

You know, that's actually a pretty good idea.