Because haven't you ever wondered?

"Hey Chuck, haven't seen you in here in a while."

Chuck raised a hand to scratch the back of his head with a slightly awkward smile. He gave the short girl a small smile.

"Can't have been that long. I distinctly remember the taste of your fantastic sandwiches," he said with an easier smile. "Only two weeks at most. Not too long at all."

"Ah, yes, but the time without you here is achingly boring," Lou told him, and he grinned at the somewhat joking tone in her voice, moving to sit down at one of the small tables in the deli and looking at her over the counter. "Same as usual, Chuck?"

"If you'd please," he replied pleasantly, and she nodded with a smile as reply, letting him turn his attention to the sky outside for a few minutes. It wasn't terribly often that he went over to Lou's for lunch, but a few months after their failed attempt at a romantic relationship they'd fallen into a fast friendship instead. Things got less awkward with every visit, and it was good enough for the two of them.

"How's work?"

Chuck glanced back to the short brunette girl when she slid onto the seat opposite him, placing a tray with two sandwiches and two coffees on the table between them. He shrugged, all his attention shifting onto the conversation while he busied himself with eating.

"Same as usual – boring, repetitive, cheap, and somewhat degrading," he explained, and she let out a small laugh at the description that allowed him a small smile of his own. "Why do you ask?"

"I'm sensing something wrong in your little world, Chuckles," she told him gently. "Just trying to figure out what."

Chuck responded by shrugging and biting into his sandwich, non-committed.

"Trouble with Sarah again?" Lou cautioned, leaning back in her chair and sipping away at her coffee while Chuck stared out at the sky through the shop window. He nodded slightly, glancing back down at his coffee.

"I feel bad about coming now."

"Why?" Lou asked quickly, watching him curiously, somewhat alerted, and he frowned, lifting his eyes up to hers.

"Because you're my friend, but I keep laying all of my relationship problems on you," he explained dryly. He grimaced. "It makes me feel bad. Kind of gives a bad impression. I don't want you to think I only come over here because I can't talk to Sarah."

"Don't you worry about that, Chuck," Lou replied with a smile. "I know that's not it. The last few times were spent with you talking about videogames and your workmates doing their regular weird jazzed up stuff. So talk."

Chuck smiled wryly.

"I'm sorry to offload. It's just that Morgan's pretty worthless in the area, talking to Ellie about things like this is a nightmare, and asking Awesome anything just makes me awkward," he said.

"Ever tried talking to Sarah about things?"

"She doesn't like talking things through," Chuck said dully, fingers skirting the rim of his coffee cup while he frowned at the brown liquid. "Doesn't like talking about a lot of things. And she's awfully good at avoiding the subject. Likes making things difficult."

"So you've been fighting?" Lou asked innocently, and Chuck frowned a little more, shrugging slightly before lifting his troubled gaze back to her.

"I don't even know," he sighed. "Kind of. But with the lack of communication on most levels there, I don't even think it can be considered that. Huh." He lifted his coffee to his lips and took a long pull, sitting in a thoughtful silence with his friend. After a few moments, Lou took to talking again, leaning a little further back in her chair and crossing her arms.

"Well then, Chuck, the only thing I can advise is this," she started gently, cutting into his thoughts. "You need to sit down and think about it. Is she really worth it?"

His eyes shot up to connect with hers in answer to the question, wondering, maybe, whether she was a little jealous of his relationship with Sarah, functioning or no, or if it was just some honest advice. He found no trace of true personal interest in her eyes – only a friendly concern for him, and that made a ghost of a smile play at his lips.

He thought about the question.

True, there were some days where he wondered it himself. Sometimes he thought he was wasting his time – there was no hope for him and the beautiful CIA agent and he should just stop trying. Other times, he honestly didn't know either way. And then, of course, there were the days he wouldn't trade for the world, because he was absolutely certain that Sarah was worth his everything, and those were the times he needed to remember.

With a soft smile on his lips, he glanced over to the Orange Orange through the shop window, then back to the table in front of him, playing with his coffee. He copied Lou, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms, eyes on the table.

"Yeah," he said to himself. "She is."

R&R - you know, the usual...