The Nerd Versus the P.I. Family
By Steampunk . Chuckster
A/N: I appreciate the reviews, folks. Keep 'em coming.
Summary: Sarah Walker has uprooted her life, leaving her job with the LAPD and going it alone as a private investigator, all in the hopes it provides her with less dangerous stakes and a schedule she can control so that she can handle her most important job, raising her toddler, a bit easier. But when the single parent thinks her computer might've been targeted by a criminal, she has to request help from the unlikeliest of sources: The Buy More Nerd Herd.
Disclaimer: I do not own CHUCK, I do not own its characters, I am not making money from posting this.
"Party foul."
Sarah laughed again, watching Chuck kick his leg out to the side and wave it around wildly as if that would do anything to help dry his pants. "Honestly, I grew up here and I should know better than to stand that close to the Pacific Ocean without watching her," she giggled, shaking her head at him as he tried to do the same thing with the other leg.
"ME TOO, DAMN IT!" he yelled, chuckling. "Gah! She sneaks up on you every single time and I know this and still!"
"Still," she giggled.
Granted, she had been distracted. And she suspected Chuck had been as well.
That was a cruel trick by the sea, and Sarah sent a bit of a scowl towards those waves that looked so nice and calm all of a sudden as they trickled up the sand, when only a minute earlier, a monster wave had snuck up on them and ruined what would have been a kiss.
A kiss she'd felt herself building up to for over an hour now. They'd both been building up to it.
It had been ruined. That timing was awful.
God damn it.
"Honestly, what the hell?" Chuck was now grabbing at his pant legs under his knees and flapping them uselessly, making her snort in amusement. "This is going to dry and be all crusty with salt. I hate that feeling."
"I do too," she groused. "But we're stuck with it now. Unless you've got a pair of pants in your trunk that are my size."
"If only. I don't even have an extra pair of pants that are my size."
"Probably good. I'd have a lot of questions for you if you had pants that were my size in your car."
They chuckled together and then they took to their path along the water towards the place where Chuck had ended up parking further down the beach in a mostly empty lot , thanks to it being far enough away from the Venice Beach scene.
They were quiet again as they walked and Sarah kept thinking about that split second touch of his lips on hers before the wave struck the moment down with a vengeance.
The air between them felt a little awkward now and she wasn't sure if it was him, or her, or both of them. Was it the fact that they almost kissed? Or was it that they almost kissed but then didn't…? Did he regret the urge to kiss her in the first place?
No, she nixed that theory. She didn't quite know what she'd done to make this guy interested enough to ask her out in spite of so many things, but he was interested. That was crystal clear.
No, there was almost a sense of unfinished business about this date now. And it would linger there until the business was…well, finished.
But she felt a little out of her depths here. With him in particular.
She was currently walking next to a nice guy who was actually a nice guy and not just a guy who thought he was nice because he said it enough times. She was on a date with said actual nice guy. And he hadn't slipped once all night. Because there was nothing to slip from. This was real. He was real. The genuine article.
The private investigator wanted another chance at that kiss. But it didn't feel…right to just grab him and kiss him. Not now. There'd been a real moment, a meeting of the eyes and minds, and she'd seen the want in his face, a small smile on his lips, and then they'd both leaned in… and CRASH. The wave.
There was no perfect moment, no meeting of…anything.
She couldn't do it now.
"S-So, um…" His voice invaded her thoughts and he cleared his throat, his free hand stuffed in his pocket again. She wondered if that was some sort of defense mechanism or shyness, or maybe he just needed a place to put his hands when they weren't doing anything. "Any developments in your computer situation? Has it stayed clean? Nobody poking around on it anymore?"
"No, it's been good." She smiled at him. "You got rid of the bastard keystroke logger and I did a check this morning just to be sure. You did the job."
He nodded. "Good. That's good. Anytime something seems off with your computer, just keep what I left you handy."
"I will. Definitely." She bit her lip, keeping herself from saying what she thought right then. That if things continued to go as well as they'd been going all night, she could just ask the guy she was dating to help if she was worried someone had hacked their way onto her computer again in the future.
But that was getting way ahead of herself. One date did not a relationship make.
"What about you? Your job?" she asked then, silently telling her brain to shut up. He gave her a look that told her she maybe needed to ask a more detailed question. "How is it…going?" She looked out at the ocean and rolled her eyes at herself where he couldn't see it.
"How's it going? Uhhh… Fine, I guess." She looked back at him as he shrugged. "I don't hate it. It's a lot better than it was before I got my promotion, that's for sure. It's been in stages, you know?"
She nibbled on her bottom lip. "Stages?"
"Yeah, like… When I first got out of college, the economy was in the dumpster and I couldn't find anything. Guys I knew were getting snatched up for these jobs, getting their feet in the door with their engineering degrees, and it just wasn't clicking for me. So I decided to just compromise and keep the Nerd Herd job I'd been working throughout high school and college. And with my degree, Big Mike gave me a hand up. He probably felt bad for me, in hindsight, but shit, I don't care about that now, I needed that hand up. He made me the 'supervisor' of the Nerd Herd after I graduated from college and couldn't find a job with a tech firm." He made air quotes around supervisor.
She mimicked his air quotes. "Does this mean that he made up the position?"
"Yeah. He did. But the Buy More has, like, almost no direction or leadership at the corporate level, or at least it didn't a few years ago. At any rate, Big Mike has always sort of had free rein to do what he wants with his store. Then about three years ago, they rewarded me for…" He seemed to search for the words.
"For basically being the only reason the Buy More hasn't gotten a shit ton of lawsuits for harassment and reckless endangerment?"
He laughed. "Maybe. You've seen my business card. You know what I do for the company now. So yeah, stages. When I was first working for the Buy More, I was still a teenager, you know? I loved it. I got my closing shifts, had the freedom to goof around at work a little, good enough money for what it was, and I got to work with Morgan—that's my best friend." She nodded. "And it was even fine during college, even though I probably took on more hours than I could handle around my classes. But, you know, getting a whole freaking engineering degree and being forced to go right back to the same God damn job I could do when I was sixteen… It felt like a gut punch. It didn't feel the same anymore."
Sarah pursed her lips and crossed her arms. "I can see how that'd be demoralizing."
"That's the word. That right there." He pointed at her. "It was demoralizing. Even with being given the promotion, becoming the Nerd Herd supervisor, I felt like a failure. I've got skills, things I learned while getting my computer engineering degree and the physics minor…" She widened her eyes, impressed. Physics? Jesus… "And also what I already knew from always being attached to a computer and whatever else electronic device. There's just so much I could do with that, and until I got this promotion, becoming the specialist for Southern California, I was in a total rut." He sighed, sticking his hand in his pocket again. "Can I be completely honest with you?"
"Of course," she said immediately, watching him closely.
"I might … still be in a rut? Is that bad? Is that a bad thing to admit to someone on a first date? You're probably gonna go home tonight and be like, 'Oh my God, this guy does not have his shit together. He's in a rut. Nope.'" And he mimicked crossing himself off of a list in the air in front of him.
"Stop it," she said, giving his arm a gentle push. "I didn't say yes to a date because I thought you were someone who's got his whole life figured out. I said yes because I had fun with you the past few days."
He leaned forward a bit, twisting his torso as if to look into her face head on. "What? Seriously?"
"Stopppp," she groused, giggling. "I'm a single parent for fuck's sake, you think I have all my shit figured out?" She scoffed and shook her head. She definitely didn't. Sure, she had her first priority figured out, and she prided herself in being able to take care of her own child. She'd learned to accept help with him when she needed it though. Even still, that was a learning process she was still undertaking. She still had her pride after all. And he was her responsibility.
"I don't know. You have a whole human who is dependent on you. A two-year-old, so that's like…just a step above baby dependency."
"…So…a toddler?" she asked teasingly.
He paused, narrowing his eyes. And then he looked a little embarrassed, even as he chuckled. "Oh. Um. Right. Yes."
She squeezed his arm to let him know she was just teasing him again. "Trust me. Just because I'm a parent, doesn't mean I have everything figured out. There are certain things I need to have nailed down. I need to be able to afford feeding myself and him. I need to be able to afford health insurance for us both. I need a roof over our heads. So in that way, sure, I've got that figured out. The rest of the stuff?" She shrugged dramatically, eyes wide. "I don't freakin' know."
He sniffed in amusement and nodded. "So what you're saying is…my admitting that I'm still kind of in something of a rut isn't…disqualifying."
"Oh hell no. If you did have everything figured out, I'd wonder if you were real, first of all." She loved the sound of his laugh. "And secondly, I'd have some genuine feelings of inferiority. Like, 'what the hell are you doing with your life, Sarah?' type stuff." She laughed with him, shaking her head. "I'm only kind of kidding."
"People who have their shit together. God. Fuck those people," he drawled.
"Yeah! Fuck 'em!"
They laughed again and when they sobered up, she sent him a sidelong glance. "You've got this promotion, getting to go around and do what you do best, like what you did for me. Taking down hacker bastards. Saving the day. That isn't something you enjoy?"
"No, I enjoy it. I mean, to a point. Anything that requires me to have contact with customers or clients means I have to sometimes deal with assholes, but it's a little less frequent when I'm not at the actual storefront, you know?"
"Retail," she groused. She had her own horror stories of working retail in high school.
"Exactly. Especially at a corporation. Helping businesses, law enforcement, people like you who specifically reach out to me, has eased that part of it significantly. So there's that at least…"
He paused for long enough that she felt the need to prompt him. "But…?"
"But…" He sent her a wry look. "This wasn't where I saw myself when I was growing up. This wasn't who or what I wanted to be." God, she related so much she could almost taste the bitterness in his features on her own tongue. "Like, I had this idea of who I was so ready to become, and I've got that always lodged in my head, and I'm always comparing who I actually am now to…that guy. And I always fall short. Like there's some alternate universe Chuck Bartowski who's…"
"What?" she prompted again when his voice tapered off.
"He owns super delicious tailored suits and is the CEO of a big tech corporation. Making video games and apps for electronic devices and smart phone and tablets and…on the cover of WIRED magazine." She felt a smile stretch over her face as his eyes got a dreamy look in them. "I was so sure that I was gonna grow up to be that guy, but things just don't…always happen the way you want. C'est la vie, eh?"
She tilted her head and widened her eyes in agreement. "You're talking to someone who got pregnant at twenty-three, so I think I can relate."
"Oh. Oh shit right. Of course. Um…"
"Don't worry. It's okay. We all have our paths we thought we'd be going on and something or multiple things swung in and knocked us off of those paths and it's…a mess but we have to figure it all out anyway, right?"
"Right. Right." He nodded emphatically. "Anyway, I'm not, like, miserable. I make a good living. I can support myself and if I never get to a point where I can leave the Buy More and actually do what…what I want to do, it'll be okay, because I'll still be able to support, like, more than just myself eventually. If it comes to that. I've got an apartment, I can fill my fridge, my closet, I furnished my own place, I have a car…which is…I think parked right up there in that lot," he chirped, pointing up the sand towards the lot that was dimly lit by tall light posts dotted throughout the parking lot.
"Oh. Wow, I didn't realize we were walking that fast."
"Me neither."
They walked up the beach, through the long stretch of sand towards the lot, in companionable silence.
Sarah still felt his deep and personal admission like it was a brick in her gut. Maybe she was totally off-base, but she got the feeling that wasn't information he offered to everybody, that she'd caught him in just the right way, maybe he was in just the right frame of mind to confess his innermost thoughts. Or maybe he felt comfortable with her.
She knew she felt comfortable with him.
But somehow that was making her want to keep from revealing too much about herself, simply because the comfort level she felt with him was unprecedented especially for a first date and she feared she would accidentally let something big slip.
They finally got to the boardwalk and were forced to stop for a rollerblading couple to buzz past.
She turned then and looked up at him, taking in his profile, his hair a mess from the breeze down by the water, his pants wet up to the knees, this singular person who was so different from anyone she'd ever met, man or woman. He'd just admitted insecurities to her on a first date, and in any other situation, someone might say that was pretty ill-advised, revealing such a distinct vulnerability to someone you barely knew, someone you maybe wanted to find a connection with.
But the potential risk he just took with her was paying off, because that brick in her gut felt warm. Very warm. And that almost-kiss down by the water, before they got blasted by a wave, left her feeling that Unfinished Business sensation again.
He moved to cross the boardwalk to go to his car, but she grabbed his free hand and held fast, pulling him back. She pulled until his front made contact with hers, and she kissed him solidly this time. There were no waves here, their feet sinking into the cool sand beside the concrete boardwalk.
At some point, he began to kiss her back, and the moment he did, her heels slipped from her fingers so that she could grab at the lapel of his shirt and tug him in even closer, her other arm winding around his shoulders and clinging tight.
She forced her mind blank and just enjoyed him, the feeling of his lips on hers. She wasn't sure how long they stood there kissing, but she pulled back eventually, oh so slowly, still holding onto him in a vise grip.
Opening her eyes, she licked her lips and stared up at him. His own lips were still a bit pursed, his eyes shut, and he finally blinked them open, an adorable look of genuine awe in his face.
"I just thought, you know, we were interrupted and I couldn't let this date continue before we finished what we started…" she said quietly, shrugging one shoulder cutely. She felt a little breathless, her toes and fingers tingling. And her lips felt like they were buzzing.
Actually her whole body was buzzing.
This was kind of new.
"I…think that was a very good idea," he said, his voice low. It crackled in a way that made her body buzz harder.
"Do you?" she asked with a quiet giggle.
"Mhm. I do."
She bit her lip and grinned at the smile on his face, the way it wrinkled his nose. And then he looked down at their feet and stooped, forcing her to untangle her fist from his shirt finally. He picked up her heels and lifted them between them jauntily. "Shall we?"
"Oh. Thank you." She'd forgotten she'd dropped those. That was…interesting.
He took her hand, she noticed, and led her back to his car, each of them stepping carefully as they got into the mostly empty lot and approached his car.
When he glanced at his watch, she felt a pang of reluctance go through her. She didn't know what time it was, she didn't want to know what time it was. She wanted to stay out here. She didn't want him to drive her home yet.
But then he stopped them at the hood of the car and gestured towards it as he held her hand in a warm grip. "Shall we?" She gave him a confused look. "Our pants are still wet. It's…uncomfortable. So I figured maybe we can just chill on the car and enjoy the view for a while. Our pants can dry a bit more hopefully, and then we can get inside the car."
She was flooded with relief. "Yeah. Okay." She accepted his help climbing up onto the car, carefully crawled up to perch on the roof again, and set her heels he handed up to her down behind her, watching as he clambered up beside her.
"So have I made you a roof-sitter now?" he asked once he settled, their shoulders brushing.
Sarah bit back a laugh and gave him a dubious look. "I'll need a bit more persuasion, maybe," she teased.
"Oh, okay!" he laughed, shaking his head. And then he spread his legs out over the windshield and braced his toes against the windshield wipers. "Wearing shoes isn't going to be comfortable again until my feet dry and I can get all this crummy sand off of them."
"Crummy sand? You don't like the natural exfoliation of LA's sandy beaches?"
"Oh, I do! I absolutely do. But I'd like the exfoliation to stop before I get my feet into socks and shoes." He shivered and made a face.
"Okay, that's fair." She spread her legs a little in an attempt to let her pants dry better and she sighed, letting her head fall back so that she could blink up at the stars. "I guess I see the merits of sitting up here instead of down there. I have a nice foot rest." She wiggled her toes against the window.
He grinned at her. "See? You're seeing the light, Sarah. I'm very pleased with this turn of events. Although, not gonna lie, I'm definitely gonna have to take my car to get it washed again even though I just did it today." He gestured to the sand that had come from their feet, smeared with salt and water across the windshield. Oops.
But then she realized what he'd just said, putting the pieces together. He'd gotten his car washed today. And she thought it wasn't much of a leap to assume he'd gotten it washed specifically because he was taking her out on a date.
While it was sort of a trivial thing, the fact that he'd done it meant he cared to make a good impression on her. She didn't know how something so simple was making her heart rate speed up, but it was.
They sat there for a while, not delving into anything too deep or personal this time, but just chattering, Sarah regaling him with the story of a rich elderly woman asking her to recover a stolen necklace that was an heirloom of hers, and how she discovered the woman's nephew had stolen it to pay off a poker debt. Sarah had retrieved the necklace and the woman had her nephew arrested for the theft. Chuck was agog through the whole story, and then he turned into a little boy, exclaiming, "Oh my God, it's so cool! That's just like a movie!"
Eventually, their pants dried, and their feet as well. He produced a towel from his trunk so that they could each wipe as much sand as possible from their feet, they put their footwear back on, and they climbed into his car.
But he just sat there behind the wheel, not putting the key into the ignition, both hands propped at ten and two on the steering wheel, staring straight ahead towards the ocean.
She watched him patiently, wondering what he was thinking about. It almost looked like he was trying to make a decision.
And then it seemed like he made it, because he turned to look at her, smiled a little, and leaned across the console. She got the drift, smiling back, and she leaned in to meet him halfway.
They kissed again, this time not quite as intense, as the awkward position made it difficult, and he pulled back sooner as well.
As he sat back in his seat, he nodded. "I just…really wanted to do that."
Sarah bit down on her cheek to hold back the utter glee from her face. "I see. Me, too."
"Good. Good good." He licked his lips slowly and she wanted to kiss him again, but she withheld the urge this time as he finally turned on the car. "It's a little after eleven thirty. Should we, um, head back?"
He didn't look much like he wanted to.
She sighed, and then she nodded. "Yeah, okay."
"Okay."
}o{
It took five whole minutes for Chuck to find a parking space that was near enough to Sarah's apartment building, and he held his breath the whole time practically, hoping against all hope that she didn't get frustrated with the process and just tell him it was okay and he could just drop her off.
He didn't want to just pull up, let her out, and peel off again. That wasn't how he saw this date ending. He wanted to at least make sure there'd be a second date. He wanted to be able to say goodnight without rushing. He wanted her to know that this had been the best date ever.
But Sarah didn't tell him to just pull up and drop her off. Instead she helped him, scouring the curb for a spot big enough for his car, pointing finally when a car pulled out, then cursing at the car in front of them when they took it.
And he finally found a spot at the end of her block, not far away at all.
"Patience is a virtue," Sarah sang as he finally parallel parked and slid the car into place against the curb. "So is parallel parking. Well done, Mr. Bartowski."
"Thank you, thank you," he drawled with a faux modest head tilt, smoldering a bit as he turned off the car.
And then they just sat there, silently.
Chuck didn't even know what to say as he ran his hands up and down the thighs of his pants, drying his palms. Lately, this had been the part where the blind date said, "Okay well thanks!" and got out of the car to go inside, never to speak to him or answer his calls or texts again. He wasn't conceited enough to think he'd done nothing to deserve that treatment. There was the taco truck experience. The girl he'd accidentally spilled on. There was the time he and his date had both realized right off the bat that they weren't compatible at all, and the date hadn't lasted two hours even.
But this was very different. This date was over five hours of absolute fun. Just pure fun. Maybe that was what he should say.
He opened his mouth to say it, and then he shut it again. Just use your damn words.
"So—"
"You—"
He stopped again, chuckling and blushing as she spoke up at the same time. God damn it, why did everything always have to be so awkward at the end of dates? Every single time.
"You go," she said, folding her hands in her lap over her purse.
Chuck nodded. "Okay, yeah. Um, I was just going to say that this was easily the most fun I've had on a date, er, ever honestly." He cleared his throat and looked at her. "I had so much fun and we didn't even do anything intense like laser tag."
She laughed. "Have you gone laser tagging on dates before?"
"No, but…" He scratched the back of his head. "I mean, it was the first intense active sort of thing I could think of."
Sarah beamed at him, amusement spilling from her gorgeous features. "That's kinda cute." Chuck pressed his lips together and winced. "No, but, uh, I agree. This was really fun." And then she nibbled her lip, clearing her throat, looking a bit tentative as she tucked some hair out of her face and behind her ear. She fiddled with the latch on her purse as she spoke up again. "You worked so hard for a spot to park, do you…want to…come up?"
And that hadn't been what he was expecting at all. Not at all. And his jaw fell open in surprise.
"Maybe I can put some coffee on." Then she winced. "Oh, but it'll mean you have to meet Carina again. Sorry."
He chuckled. "Why sorry?"
"She didn't make a great first impression. Freaking jerk always has to play games with people." She looked half wry, and half actually frustrated.
"Hey, no harm done," he said with as nonchalant a shrug as he could muster. She gave him a dubious look. "No, really. Seriously. It was…kinda funny. I was absolutely terrified that I'd somehow gotten the wrong address for a good thirty seconds, I won't lie to you. But when I heard your voice and saw you, I was too relieved to be upset about the joke. So…no harm done." He shifted in his seat to face her better. "Look! Maybe, uh, maybe she will have a really good second first impression and it'll cancel out the first first impression. Ehhh?" He grinned, wrinkling his nose.
Sarah giggled, her eyes bright even in the scant light coming into the front seat from the streetlight a few cars away. "Thank you for being such a good sport about that, Chuck."
He nodded, smiling at her. "You're welcome. It costs me absolutely nothing to be a good sport about stuff that was meant in good fun."
"It was meant in good fun. She really isn't trying to scare off a date, especially when I've made it clear to her that you're actually nice and not just someone who thinks he's nice but really isn't."
Chuck's eyes widened a bit. Had she made that clear to her friend? He felt himself slipping into a bit of a dreamlike state at that.
"So?" He shook himself and looked at Sarah again. She was watching him through her eyelashes, a bit shyly, a small smile on her face as she tilted her chin down. "Would you like to come up?"
"Yeah," he breathed immediately. "I mean, yes. Definitely. If it isn't an imposition or…"
She gave him a flat look, humor in it. "Chuck, I'm literally inviting you."
"Right. You are. Good point."
He watched her get out of his car, standing on the curb with a finesse and grace that was honestly otherworldly, and then he shook himself as she waited for him, swinging out from behind the wheel and shutting his door behind him.
Trotting around the car, he grinned at her again, pressing the button to lock the car by holding it up over his shoulder. And he grinned harder down at the sidewalk as they strolled when she tucked an arm through his and pressed herself close to his side.
"It really helped a lot that the night's just been so beautiful. You know, weather-wise."
Chuck pressed his lips together and pursed them a bit. "Saving the weather talk for the end of the date? I can't help but respect you for it, Sarah. It's bold."
She cracked up and pushed him teasingly. He chuckled and staggered a step, but then moved right back in next to her so that she could thread their arms again. "You butt."
"Butt?" He rocked forward in laughter.
"I've had to try to temper my language at least a little bit, okay?" she chuckled, a beaming smile on her face.
Oh, right. Of course. She had a toddler upstairs, waiting for his mom to come home. Because that's what Sarah was. A mom. She was more than that obviously but she was still…that.
Phew. Damn.
He'd somehow nearly forgotten about that part of this. And he felt bad. Was that awful? Was he awful for forgetting about her son's existence for a little while? What did that say about him? He doubted she'd forgotten about him. What was his name again? Max? Yeah, Max. Like Maxwell Lord. And then he shook himself. Maybe he could think of a non-villain to compare her child to? Max Payne? Still a guy who ran around with a gun, but not a bad guy…so that was an improvement… More of a morally grey area sort of guy though, so maybe he should…
"—in the rain…"
Chuck blinked and turned to look at her. "Sorry, I, um…saw a cat. Across the street." Liar. "What, um, what was that about the rain? Sorry."
"It's okay," she giggled. "I was just saying it's always good when you can go on a first date that isn't in the rain."
"Oh. Yeah! Definitely." Then he gave her a look. "Have you had a first date in the rain before?"
"Uh, yes," she said with an emphatic nod.
"Did it ruin the date?"
"Um, no, not really?" She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes thoughtfully as they neared her building. "The date ruined the date. But the rain definitely didn't help. It made me extra grumpy when I got home. Extra grumpy and also wet. So."
"Oooohhh, mannnn. I've been on both sides of that." She raised an eyebrow. "I mean, I've been the person whose date ruined the date, and I've also been the date who ruined the date." He made a face at himself and shook his head. "Never in the rain though."
She laughed, leading the way up the step and pulling the door open to go into the lobby. He held it for her as she stepped under his arm to get inside and he joined her. "Trust me, I've also been on both sides of that. Before and after I had Max."
He pressed the elevator button for her floor. "Is dating and being a parent really that much harder?" The look she gave him made him take a step back and hold his hands up. "I'm not—I mean, I don't know. It was a genuine question. No snark meant."
She giggled and grabbed his wrist, pulling his arm down and tugging him in so that she could nudge him with her hip. "I know, I know. Sorry. It just… Yes. That's the short answer. Yes, it is so much harder. But the long answer, well… it could take me all night."
Chuck had all night. And he'd gladly sit and listen to her for longer than that, even if it was just her lamenting over how difficult dating and parenting at the same time was. Now that he thought about it as they stepped onto the elevator together, she hadn't even been able to say yes to him when he'd asked her out yesterday because she'd needed to ensure she had a babysitter first. And he imagined every date would be that way. She couldn't just agree to things on a whim. She couldn't throw stuff into a bag, get into her car, and go up the coast for a weekend. There was a whole other human being who was only two years old who depended on her for virtually everything.
"I'm sorry I'm such an ignorant putz. I should've known. I mean, of course it's way harder." He rolled his eyes at himself.
"No, come on. You aren't a parent. You don't know what my life is like or any other single parent. Don't knock yourself for asking a sincere question." Her fingers slipped around his and squeezed.
And Chuck found he couldn't help smiling at her, a soft, warm, slow smile. She started to smile back but the elevator stopped and the doors slid open. He waved for her to go first and she did, sending him a look over her shoulder as she led him off of the elevator and down the hallway to her apartment.
"Um… Sorry, I should've warned you. We're super past his bedtime. My son, I mean."
"Oh. Right, yeah, of course. Well, I can just walk you to the door and…"
"No! No, no…" She stopped at the door and grabbed his forearm tightly, her features almost a little panicked. "No, you don't have to go. I just mean… Well, he's not a light sleeper. He's actually really good at sleeping through most things. But I guess just—Not that you're loud or anything. But…"
"You want me to keep it in the back of my mind that there's a two year old sleeping in your apartment," he said quietly. She smiled warmly and nodded. "Got it. No singing 'Come on, Eileen' at the top of my lungs." He gave her a thumbs up.
"Was that…something you were planning on doing?" she asked, playing along as she narrowed her eyes dubiously.
He pursed his lips. "No," he said, purposely unconvincing.
Giggling again, she shook her head and took her key out of her purse, unlocking her door and popping it open. She stepped in and peeked around the door, before she opened it wide and let him move inside as well.
"Back already? How was h—Oh," Chuck heard, but as he stepped into view, he saw the redhead sitting at the table near the window behind a laptop catch sight of him, her eyes wide. "Well, well. Hello, Chuckie. You're here, too."
He didn't miss the significant look she threw in her blond friend's direction, eyebrows raised, her lips pursed. Sarah seemed to valiantly attempt to ignore it. "Uh, come on in, Chuck."
Chuck smiled, sticking his hands in his pockets, feeling a bit awkward entering this home. And it had little to do with the blatant eyes Carina was making at Sarah. Was he not supposed to be invited up here for some reason? That didn't matter. What mattered was he didn't quite know what Sarah's intentions were for inviting him up in the first place.
And he was most definitely overthinking this but he couldn't help it. This was the first really, really good date he'd had in so many years and he was trying not to lose his footing and ruin everything. If he just bowed out of this situation and ended the date here, he'd have less of a chance to fuck it all up. But he didn't want the date to end. Sure, she had a son and she had to be home for him at a certain time because as much as Carina had teased about a "curfew", earning a smack from her friend, he was pretty sure Sarah wouldn't be staying out all hours of the night. It'd be rude to Carina, if nothing else, when she was nice enough to agree to babysit pretty last minute.
"He go to sleep okay?" Sarah asked then, shrugging her purse off and leaving it on the entry table as Carina clicked around on her laptop and shut it smoothly, rising to her feet.
"He was a little grumpy at first, but I found chicken nuggets in your freezer. Hope you weren't saving them for anything because I made them and let him have a post-dinner snack. He was over the moon about it."
"I didn't even know those were there so good find, Red." She crossed the room and gave her friend a one-armed hug, snuggling into her side. "Thank you."
"Sure. And he got a nice lukewarm bath, too."
Sarah giggled and rolled her eyes. Seemingly at her son who had a two year old's whims. "Such a weirdo."
"Well, he's yours so I'm not that surprised by it."
"Shut up." And then she looked up and met Chuck's gaze. He was still waiting near the door, his hands in his pockets, not quite sure where he should go, if he should've followed her, if he should take his shoes off first, or what… "You can come all the way in, Chuck, it's okay."
"Oh. Right." He took a few lunging steps towards the table, making both women smirk, Carina sending Sarah another look that the P.I. ignored. "What about my shoes? Are, um, are they…?"
Carina snorted. "A two year old lives here. I don't know if you caught the big ol' stain on that kid's shirt earlier but this apartment is no stranger to messes." Chuck glanced at Sarah for confirmation and Carina let out a small gasp. "My word isn't good enough for you, Chuckie? I saw you look at her for an answer even though I gave you one," she teased with an offended look on her face.
"Well, this is … my apartment, Carina," Sarah drawled, and then she smiled at Chuck. "Do whatever makes you comfortable."
He looked down at his feet and shrugged sheepishly at her. "I'll leave the shoes on. I'm, um, afraid my feet and socks are probably dirtier than my shoes at this point." Sarah giggled at that as Carina gave him a grossed out look. "We walked along the water," he explained to the redhead. "Sandy feet."
"A-ha." Carina nodded sagely.
Sarah pursed her lips then in the silence, her eyes darting to the side, and the air felt a bit awkward in the room.
"So, Chuckie, how's the computer fixing business going?" Carina asked in the silence then, slipping her laptop into a messenger bag and shutting the flap over it. The way she gave the buckle a strong yank after she snapped it shut made him jump a little. He didn't think either of them noticed.
"It's…going." He exchanged a look with Sarah but couldn't quite read it. She seemed almost uncomfortable. "I mean, it's…lucrative. Folks need their WiFi and…you know, they need the viruses taken off their computers."
"And the keystroke loggers," Sarah's friend cut in. He looked up at her with a small frown, confused for a moment. But then he ironed his features out, realizing Sarah must've told her about all of that.
"Yeah, those. Little bastards." His eyes widened and he spun to look over his shoulder at the hallway down which he assumed the two year old was sleeping. "Sorry," he hissed, turning back with a wince.
Sarah giggled. "He's asleep. He didn't hear you."
"Sorry, still. That's gonna be something I need to work on."
And then he realized how that sounded. That he'd be back, and not just back, but around…both this apartment and Sarah's son.
"Is it?" Carina drawled, pressing her lips together and smirking, tilting her head at Sarah with a pure how 'bout that? look on her face.
Sarah was blushing, but at least she didn't look pissed, and Chuck was absolutely certain his head and neck looked as red as a radish. "Oh. Um. I-I don't know." He swallowed hard.
When Carina let out a snicker, Chuck very clearly saw Sarah's hand sneak around and pinch her friend in the hip. She didn't do a great job hiding it, and Carina let out a hiss and glared at the private investigator.
But she looked a little remorseful for the teasing at least when she turned back to him. "I should actually thank you. The tips you wrote up for my girl Sarah here are very helpful. I'll be taking your advice on my own computer systems, both at work and on this bad boy." She pat her bag. "I'm not fu—er, effing around with these criminal…witches with a b."
This time Chuck was curious, and he was sure it showed on his face because Sarah felt the need to explain.
"Carina's at the DA's office. I figured she might be able to use that information as well, keep a tight lid on her cases in case someone tries to break into her devices and read stuff they shouldn't be reading."
"Ohhhhh!" Chuck snapped his fingers and stood up a bit straighter. "You're a lawyer. That makes total sense."
Carina gave him a Really? look as Sarah laughed. Well, that wasn't supposed to come out the way it came out, but at least Sarah seemed tickled pink by it. And Carina's glare she sent him looked teasing more than anything.
"I just mean…you know, because lawyers are smart and savvy and think fast on their feet."
"Nice try on that save, bucko," Carina droned, smirking.
Sarah was still laughing. "Oh my God, that was amazing."
"Kind of. Fine. And I deserved it for all of my teasing," Carina admitted, smirking harder and shaking her head. "Okay, Chuckie Boy. You win this round. Respect." She held up her hand and he smacked it with his. "Truce."
"Absolutely," he said, warmly, shoving his hands back in his pockets. "Not that there was any need for one, honestly. That was a dirty trick at the door when I got here a few hours ago, but you made up for it by making it possible for Sarah to go out in the first place."
"That's right, I did." Carina bit her bottom lip and smiled around it.
"Um, does anyone want coffee, or…?" Sarah interjected after another short silence.
Chuck didn't miss the significant look Carina threw from him to Sarah and back to him again before she snatched her messenger bag up and shrugged it on over her head.
"I'm definitely getting out of here," she said, leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination with her tone. He blushed hard, wondering how it was possible this woman worked for the DA's office when she so obviously didn't care at all about applying tact to her interactions with other people? Or maybe she just thoroughly enjoyed tormenting her best friend?
Sarah looked pretty tormented, but also frustrated at the redhead's tone as she hastened to the door. And then she rolled her eyes because Carina turned and sent her another significant look, her blue eyes wide. "Sar, how 'bout walking me to the elevator? Hm?"
The P.I. let out a long sigh and sent Chuck an apologetic look. "You mind if I just walk her out real quick? Won't be a minute."
"She might be a minute. Or two." Carina winked.
"Take your time," Chuck said, shrugging.
As Sarah moved past him, she twisted her fingers in the front of his shirt and gave it a sweet little tug, smiling up at him. "Make yourself at home. Have a seat. Um, I'll make some coffee—"
"Sure, yeah. I'm good."
"Okay."
And then she followed Carina out of the door after the redhead wiggled her fingers in a wave and winked, disappearing into the hallway.
Chuck cleared his throat and slowly moved to the table, awkwardly sitting in one of the chairs, drumming his fingers on his knees, his back ramrod straight, feeling way out of his depth.
Way, way out of his depth.
A/N: Nobody ever gives Carina a taste of her own medicine, so I thought I'd switch it up a bit. Let me know what y'all think of this chapter by clicking that review button. Hope everyone is safe and well. Thanks for reading.
-SC