Author's Notes:
What did I tell ya, I knew I was going to have another update fast. I was at home today so I got a lot done. Thank you for all the great comments, they make my day. I just hope in the end the story will still be worth wild. I hope it won't get confusing from here on out. This story is going to get a bit intense from here on and a little bit cheesy but what can I say I love fluff.
It was a new day and new problem for John Casey to handle. As much as he didn't want to do this, he had to.
"Dad, hey what's up?"
"Hey Alex, um we need to talk."
"About what?"
"Morgan."
"Dad, no I don't want to talk about this right now."
"Fine you don't have to talk but I just wanted to tell you maybe there is a reason as to why Morgan had done what did."
"You know something I don't know, don't you?"
"Well I am the reason Morgan has been cancelling and lying to you lately."
"What? Why?"
"We have been working on some important business things for the Buy More."
"Really?" She said in disbelief. He nodded yes. "Wait why didn't Morgan just tell me that himself?"
"Because he was worried you wouldn't believe him if he told you he needed to spend time with me."
"He shouldn't have to worry about that. He should know that I would understand."
"Well, I am going to the Buy More now, why don't you come with me and you can talk to him about it."
" OK, I feel so bad about getting so mad at him."
"I bet if you explain to him everything then he will understand." Casey and Alex walked out of the apartment in the hope of talking to Morgan.
"Hey I will meet you in the car; I have to do something really quick. Casey pulled out his phone and dialed Morgan.
"Hey it's Casey. I will be at work soon but I talked to Alex. Fair warning she's heading your way when we get there just go with it. I have a plan."
Casey hung up the phone and started off to the Buy More.
Sarah and Chuck were sitting in the kitchen enjoying a cup of morning coffee. Sarah never thought that she would have a moment like this. Her husband reading the paper and drinking the coffee she made and her sitting at the table talking to him as they relaxed in their cozy home. She surely didn't expect this but she loved every minute of it.
"So how was your talk with Emily last night?"
"How did you know we had a talk last night? Did we wake you up?"
"Chuck, you didn't wake me up I wasn't even sleeping."
"Oh, well I learned a lot about her. I think I might be ready to arrange a dinner tonight for her to meet Ellie and the family."
"Wait, really? You're ready to tell them."
"Yeah, I would have told them already but…"
"But what…?"
"I was worried what the tests results were."
"What about your mother?"
"I don't know where my mother is. She can't give out her address or live in a place for more than a month, in case the CIA finds her. I am just going to tell Ellie and Awesome.
"Well, as long as we don't have the dinner here. I don't really feel like having to clean the house and stuff."
" OK, well I will talk to them first then we can decide where to eat." Chuck heard footsteps coming from the hallway and looked up.
" Good Morning Em." He said to Emily. Her eyes barely open as she made her way to the couch.
"Huh?" She looked up, "Good morning Chuc…I mean Dad. Sorry I am still getting used to that."
"Dad? When did she start calling you that?" Sarah asked Chuck surprised.
"He told me to call him that from now on. So Sarah what do you want me to call you?" Chuck smiled as Sarah almost spit out her sip of coffee.
"Um, Sarah is good, thanks." Chuck gave a tiny chuckle and looked out the window. He could see Ellie and Devon were in their living room with Clara. He thought this was probably the time that he should tell them about Emily. He had to do it soon before he changed his mind.
"Hey I will be right back I am going over to Ellie's for a few minutes."
" OK, well how long will you be there because we have to go to the Buy More in an hour?" Sarah asked.
"Not long, I will be quick."
"Alright."
"Hey why don't you should Em, how the TV works so she can watch something."
"I can do that." Chuck kissed Sarah on the cheek and went off to Ellie's.
He stood in front of his door and though of different ways he could tell her. 'Ellie I have a daughter,' or 'Hey Ellie guess what I have a love child with Jill.' Maybe even, 'Ellie your hair looks great today oh and by the way you're an aunt.'
"Chuck?" Ellie opened the door and startled him.
"Ellie? Hey…um…can I come inside I have something important to tell you."
"Sure, come on in."
"Hey Awesome." Chuck said to Devon who was holding young Clara on his side.
"What's up Chuck?"
"Um, you guys might want to sit down." Chuck said.
" Now you're scaring me. Is everything OK?" Ellie sat down and Devon put Clara in her play pen.
"Yeah, everything is fine this is actually good news. Once everyone is seated I will tell you." Devon sat down and asked.
" Chuck what's going on?"
"Um, guys, I am not sure how to say this. I don't know how anyone would say this."
"Chuck just tell us." Ellie said frustrated.
"I have a daughter."
"Wait is Sarah pregnant?" Ellie said all excited.
"No actually."
"Then how do you have a daughter?" Devon asked.
"Um, that's why I wanted you guys to sit down. Her name is Emily and she is eleven years old but will be twelve soon." Ellie and Devon looked at each other confused. "You remember how I dated Jill at Stanford?"
"How could I forget, she betrayed you." Ellie's eyes widened, "Oh my God." Her sudden realization showed on her face as Chuck was explaining.
"Well, I guess when she found it was after she broke up with me. She wasn't ready to raise her on her own so she gave her away to an orphanage which is where Emily grew up until she was ten and then they reconnected. She was living with Jill and Bryce when she died. She kept the fact that I was her biological father a secret from everyone until she died and that's when she told them in her Will." Ellie and Devon sat there speechless. "They all thought it was Bryce because of the timing but well…yeah."
"Well this explains why you were being so weird yesterday."
"There is more." Chuck explained to Ellie and Devon has Bryce ran off and how Sarah and Chuck want to get full custody of her.
"Chuck, why didn't you tell us sooner?"
"I would have but everything was going so crazy and it didn't seem like the right time to do it. Also we weren't even sure if she was truly mine but she is and now she wants to meet you."
"She does?" Devon said in surprise.
"Yeah, now that Jill is gone, we are the only family she has left."
"Oh gosh, that poor little girl." Ellie said.
"So we were wondering if maybe you wanted to do a dinner thing tonight maybe at the Plaza Café? You guys love that place."
"Sure today Devon isn't working and I get off early so yeah, that sounds good."
" OK, so great. She will be excited when I tell her. I have to go down to the Buy More so I will see you guys tonight."
"Well alright Chuck, see ya." Ellie said waving goodbye as he walked out the door.
Casey and Alex went into the Buy More to find Morgan behind the Nerd Herd counter.
"Morgan, we need to talk." Alex said. Morgan looked at her and nodded. Even Casey told him ahead of time about this he was completely lost.
"Alex, I wanted to start by saying…"
"Don't say anything, my dad told me everything. Why wouldn't you think I wouldn't believe you if you told me you had work with my dad? You know you can tell me anything especially that, I would have understood." She said rubbing his bicep.
"I uh…" Morgan was out of words until he looked at Casey nodding at him. "I know, I should have been truthful with you in the beginning. It was stupid of me to be so secretive of something so little."
"I love you Morgan." She hugged him.
"I loved you too Alex." He hugged her back.
"PSSHT…" Casey whispered to get Morgan's attention from behind Alex's back. Morgan shook his head 'no' to show Casey he didn't know what was going on. Casey angrily pointed toward to the Demo room, mouthing the words 'take her in there.'
"Um, Alex, let's go to the demo room?" Morgan said as Casey nodded yes.
"Why?"
"It's a surprise?" He said leading her there. He noticed that the shades in the demo room were down and he wasn't sure what was going on. "Close your eyes." Before he opened the door he wait for Alex to close her eyes. He thought that he doesn't like what he sees than at least he can get her out before she can see it too. Morgan opened the door and it wasn't what he expected. The guest sofa was gone and in place of it was a dining table set for two. The room was lit with two candles and had rose pedals all over the floor. On the table there were two plates covered by heating lid. To top it off the giant tester television had a screen image of the beach, with tropical music playing throughout the room. Morgan was shocked, all he could think of is, 'Casey could not have done this or did he?' Alex opened her eyes and Morgan stood there still speechless.
"Oh my God. Morgan did you do this?"
"Uh…" He looked at Casey who was nodding his head yes. "Yeah, I thought this would help make me say I'm Sorry."
"It's wonderful, romantic and it… couldn't get any better." Alex kissed Morgan and walked inside. Morgan closed the door and pulled the chair out for Alex. He sat across from her and stared into her eyes.
"Alex. I wanted to say I will never forget this moment." Morgan smiled as they began to eat their wonderful meals.
"No." Emily said in disagreement.
"Yes." Chuck said.
"Oh come one Dad, no."
"Yes it's true."
"Yeah right."
"I have proof, it's here somewhere. Morgan fought a Jedi the last time we were at Disneyland." Chuck grabbed his phone and pulled the picture of Morgan having a light saber battle with the Disneyland Jedi. "See."
"No way, I didn't know you do that there."
"Yeah, it's sort of new."
"I wish I can go there. I have never been there before."
"Well we need to take you there, don't we?" Emily smiled,
"Really you would do that."
"Of course." Chuck said as they both smiled.
"Hey Chuck, I just got a call from Casey. He said he gave Morgan the day off so we don't have to go to the Buy More." Sarah smiled.
" OK that's fine. It gives me some time to talk to Emily." Chuck said.
"Talk to me about what?" Emily asked.
"Well tonight I made reservations for dinner."
"Oh OK."
"With Ellie and Devon."
"Wait what? Is this what I think it means?"
"Yeah, tonight you get to meet your aunt and uncle."
"Oh my God! No way! What am I going to wear? What am I going to say? What am I going to do? Oh, God, tonight isn't good for me. Can we actually reschedule?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, what if they don't like me?" Chuck looked at Emily and gave a small smirk.
"They will like you. I don't have a doubt in my mind about that. Just be yourself and everything will be alright."
"Chuck is right. You don't have to worry about that in this family. And don't worry about what to wear, you find something." Sarah said.
"How about this Sarah takes you shopping for something special to wear tonight?" Chuck smiled and looked over at Sarah looked shocked.
"Really you guys would do that?" Emily asked.
"Um, yeah, just consider it…" Sarah began to say.
"Bonding?" Chuck finished her sentence.
"Yes bonding." Sarah smiled.
"Great, you and Emily can go shopping and I can work on some business stuff for the store."
"Um Chuck, there's one thing. I am not a shopper Chuck. You are more of the shopper than I am."
"Oh come on Sarah, you two haven't really gotten a chance to get to know each other yet, and this would be the perfect time to do it."
"I guess I could get my purse and go." Sarah said.
"I will go get dressed." Emily said running into her room. Chuck was happy to head that his wife and his new daughter would able to some time together.
"Chuck! What are you doing? I don't know how to shop for a little girl. I barely know how to shop for myself and I'm a big girl."
"Sarah, it's better you take her than me. What would I know about shopping for an 11-year-old girl? Come Sarah; just treat it like a mission."
"A mission?" Sarah sighed, "Alright I'll do that but only because I don't want to disappoint Emily."
"That's the spirit." Chuck said.
Sarah Bartowski wasn't ever much of a shopper especially if she wasn't buying it for herself. She knew how to act like she was having the time of her life shopping like a regular woman but in reality she can't get into it.
The car was filled with silence as Sarah and Emily waited to get to the shopping mall. Neither one knew what to say to each other. Once they had arrived the silence continued. It wasn't until they got out of the car the silence was broken.
"So what store do you want to go to?"
"Well when my mom took me shopping, she would take to some place called 'Sparkles.' It's a place for kids my age to buy trendy clothes." Emily said as she used hand quotation for the word trendy.
"Do you like to shop there?"
"Well…to be honest I don't really know to go shopping. I have only gone clothes shopping two or three times with my mom and she did most of the work."
"Em I should probably tell I am not much of a shopper either."
"Really?"
"Yeah, it's worse because I have never shopped for a preteen before." Sarah stopped realized, what they could do. "Hey, I think I where to take you. This place has got something for everyone." Sarah and Emily entered the mall and walked past Sparkles and headed toward the very far end of the mall.
"Where are we going exactly? We have past the clothing stores for my size."
"We haven't past them all." Sarah gestured for Emily to follow her and said, "OK we are here follow me."
"Stacy's? I though this was a makeup store?"
"No actually the makeup department is in the front but if you go to the second floor." Sarah and Emily began to walk downstairs. "There is a giant kids section." Emily saw the many clothes that surrounded her and she began to feel overwhelmed.
"Wow, there are so many clothes?"
"Don't worry I have a friend that works here and she can help us find something easily." Sarah walked up to the counter to a man with spiky hair and skin tight pants.
"Hi, is Monica Johnson here today?
"Uh, yes. Is there something you need?"
"She's an old friend of mine, can you tell her that a Sarah Walker is here to see her."
"Um, sure." The man walked to the back of the store as Sarah and Emily waited patiently.
"So? What are we waiting for?" Emily asked.
"My friend can help us get you an outfit. She's an amazing stylist. She can just look at you and know. She could probably style you a whole wardrobe but that would take too long. She's usually who I go to for all my clothes."
"Sarah?"
"Hey Monica."
"Hey, what are you doing here? I haven't heard from you in years."
"Well, I have a shopping issue."
"Again? Sarah, you need to start shopping for your own clothes."
"It's not for me." Sarah went over to Emily. "This is Emily. She needs a special dinner outfit for tonight."
"Oh OK I have never worked with kids before but hey I am up for a challenge. Follow me." Sarah and Emily followed her to her office. " OK, hmmm." She stared up and down and looked at her from every angle. "Well I think I can find something for you I need you to wait here." She went into the other room leaving Sarah and Emily alone. " OK found it."
"Wow that was really fast." Emily said.
"What can I say? I know what I am doing." Monica smiled as Emily gave a silent laugh. "Why don't you go try this on? She handed the folded clothes to Emily and showered to the changing room.
"Hey Moni, I wanted to say thanks for doing this, I know we haven't talked in a while." Sarah said.
"It's no problem; think of this as my way of repaying you for saving my life. If you didn't move me out-of-the-way of that car, I would be dead by now."
"It's no problem." They both giggled, "So I have to ask; who's the kid?"
"You know my husband Chuck right?
"Hunky nerd?"
"Yeah, well that's his daughter?"
"I didn't know he had a kid? Sarah nodded, "Wow so that makes you a stepmother huh? To think I would have never thought that Sarah Walker would one day be settled down."
"I know its weird for me too."
"I'm ready." Emily said from the other room.
"Come on out and show us." Sarah said. Emily walked into the room with a pink spaghetti strap day dress with white polka dots. It was simple but the smile on Emily's face made it complete.
"What do you think?" Emily asked.
"I think it looks cute. Sarah what do you think? Monica said. Sarah stared at Emily and noticed that when her smile looked similar to Chuck's. It was a big goofy grin just like his but it was much softer and woman like.
"I like it and I think Chuck will too." Sarah said.
Chuck entered the Buy More as he usually did. He thought since the girls were shopping, a small checkup on the store wouldn't hurt.
"Hey Casey." He flagged Casey down.
"Bartowski, what are you doing here?"
"My job. Since the funeral I haven't been able to really check on the store. I thought since Sarah and Emily were at the mall that I would check up on some quick thing. Um, I wanted to ask you if you wanted to have dinner with Ellie, Awesome, Sarah and I tonight. I know how you're not very fond of Bartowski family dinner but I thought this would be good way for you to meet Emily." Chuck asked. Casey grunted. "Please Casey it's at Plaza at 7, it would mean a lot to Emily if you came."
"I will think about it." Casey groaned.
"Thanks, hey where is Morgan?"
"Busy, Why?"
"I need to invite him."
"Maybe you should leave him alone?"
"Why is that?"
"Because it took me several hours to get him and Alex happy and if he, he or Alex is sad again, I won't be able to make him do his shooting test tomorrow."
" OK, well I guess that can work. He already met Emily…so"
"Good, I have to prep for tomorrow." Casey walked off in a hurry and tried to avoid anymore conversation with him.
"It was nice talking to you too Casey." Chuck said to himself.
It was a half an hour before dinner and Sarah was helping finish curling Emily's hair.
"Thanks for doing this Sarah. When it comes to looking good I'm kind of beauty challenged."
"It's no problem. When I was in college, I learned many hair styles and makeup tips. Enough so that I could have opened a beauty pallor." Sarah said smiling, she knew that most of the things about beauty she learned from being undercover. Almost every night she would have to be someone new, and that caused her to change her look constantly. She couldn't tell Emily that so she gave her the half truth which always seemed to work when she wanted people to believe her. Chuck walked to the bathroom door and smiled.
"Oh, God with two girls living here, I don't think I will ever be able to use the bathroom again." Sarah and Emily glared at Chuck.
"You are not the one who has to worry. You take longer than both of us combined, Mr. I wash my hair four times in a row." Sarah shot back.
"Sarah, you know you love my hair. It's got that bouncy, fluffy feeling no one can resist." Chuck said. Emily laughed; the two of them bickering was funny to her.
" OK you're done." Sarah said taking the towel off from around her. She got up from the chair and looked in the mirror and smiled.
"I love it. I don't think I have ever curled my hair before. What do you think?" Emily said.
"I think you look beautiful." Sarah said.
"What do you think Dad?" Emily asked Chuck.
"I think you look amazing. Nice outfit by the way." Chuck answered, this was the first time he saw the new outfit and for sure approved.
"Thanks, do you think Ellie and Devon will like it?"
"I think they will love it." Chuck said.
