Chuck Versus the HalloWeekend
By Steampunk . Chuckster
A/N: Weekends have two days. ;)
Disclaimer: I don't own CHUCK and I'm not making money off of this story.
Part 2
"What do you mean, you already have plans?"
Sarah looked across the small table at the redhead, gently blowing at the steam that rose from her early morning caffè latte, and nonchalantly repeated, "I already have plans."
Her best friend in the world gave her a dubious, sideways look. And then the look cleared from her features and she nodded. "Oh, wait. Those Halloween ghost tour people you work with invite you to a work party or something? I thought you said they're all a bunch'a weirdos."
"They are all a bunch of weirdos," she said, snorting and shaking her head. "I don't have plans with them, though. It's…someone else."
Carina looked really confused now.
"Someone else who? I'm literally your only friend."
Sarah made a face and lowered her coffee, offended. "Okay, shut up."
"I'm not trying to be mean. It's true."
Rolling her eyes, she shrugged, taking a sip of her still steaming hot coffee. "Fine. You are literally my only friend. You brat."
She smirked then, and when she remembered the look on his face when she'd agreed, she found herself glancing off to the side, smiling to herself.
He'd looked so shocked that she'd accepted, and she thought maybe there was a story there. A lack of self-esteem, maybe? He seemed like he could have that issue, considering how shamelessly she'd flirted with him a few times and it had gone right over his head. It offended her a little at first, but she quickly figured out that he didn't mean to ignore her flirtation. He just didn't recognize it as flirtation. And somehow that was more endearing.
But then when her answer sank in for him, he grinned so massively that his nose wrinkled up and it was adorable.
They exchanged phone numbers and he texted her his address as they stood there alone in the rose garden and then he gave her a time and she left, unable to keep from glancing back at him once she was sure the rose bushes obscured his view of her. Which was how she'd spotted him make fists out of both hands and punch them up into the air over his head triumphantly.
Fucking cute.
She hadn't gotten him out of her head since.
"So who is this person you have plans with?" Carina interrupted her thoughts of him and she looked back up at her friend, nibbling on her lip.
"I met a guy and he asked me to this Halloween party he's throwing," she said finally, shrugging.
Carina's jaw fell open. When she shut it again, Sarah could hear the click of her teeth snapping together. "Sar, what have I told you about not accepting dates from rando guys on the bus?"
"He's not a rando guy on the bus. Why are you being such a dick? I'm not that depressing."
Chuckling, the redhead lifted her hands up in surrender. "Sorry. I'm sorry. Really. You're right. I'm being a dick. Who's the guy?"
"He was on the last tour I gave last night."
"What?!" Carina groaned. "Sarah. You're going to the Halloween party of some dude who was on one of those goofy Halloween tours at the park? You do realize what kind of person actually pays for an experience like that, right? People with children, and adults who want to live in a time period that had lots more racism and sexism, and lots less penicillin. You don't want to date someone like that." She shivered. "Trust me. One minute you're having sex, and the next: Please may I have some moooore?" she squeaked in a small English child's accent.
Sarah burst into laughter, throwing her head back. "I hate you so much." She sniffed and rolled her eyes. "And for the record, not everyone who pays for those tours is like that. Some of them just like history and want to do something fun and Halloween-y. You're so judgmental."
"Nooo, no. I'm just kidding. I don't actually judge people for wanting to do that. It sounds…kind of fun, I guess."
"It is fun."
"Well, you're majoring in history and can recite the whole Constitution backwards and forwards, you geek, so of course you think it's fun."
"You can do the same thing with the backstories of every single wife from Real Housewives of Orange County, so who of us is really the geek?" Sarah shot back.
"Still you." Sarah glared. "And anyway, I can do that with Orange County and New Jersey. Be jealous."
Snorting, she shook her head. "Well, all of this aside, he's kind of cute. So…I said yes when he asked me."
"You realize it's a little goofy he asked you to his Halloween party and not on, like, an actual date, right?"
Sarah shrugged. It had occurred to her that wasn't what other guys would probably have done in his shoes. "It's different, but…I don't know, I kind of like that he asked me to a Halloween party instead of out on a date. It's cute."
"You keep saying 'cute', and it's making me have so many questions, girlie."
"Why? He is cute. He did cute things. Asking me to his party was cute. He also bought me beers." It was originally for his friend and his friend's girlfriend, sure, but he'd still given them to her free of charge.
"A man who buys the drinks? Okay, I can get behind that. But you're sure this isn't, like, a reaction to, um… what happened a few months ago?"
Sarah rolled her eyes. "You mean when my cheating boyfriend broke up with me, only for me to find out right after that he'd been cheating on me through our whole relationship? Thanks for waggling that in front of my face again, best friend. Appreciate it."
"I'm just looking out for you. Noah kind of—"
"Fucked me up. I know. This has nothing to do with him and everything to do with finding a connection with this guy last night and chatting with him over some beers and…I like him. He's sweet."
"And cute?"
Sarah glared. "Stop saying that like it's not a compliment."
"Would you have called Noah cute?" The glare intensified and Carina shrugged defensively. "It's an honest question. Would you?"
"No, he was hot, but he also has a side gig as a model and gets called beautiful and gorgeous to his face a billion times a week and has his picture in freaking magazines, which made his head stupidly massive, so that's not necessarily a good thing, or something that I'm looking for at the moment." She pointed at her friend. "And stop doing this. I'm literally just going to a Halloween party tonight. That's it. This isn't eighteen-twenty-one. I haven't promised my life and dowry to this guy. It's. A. Party. One party."
"You're right." Carina nodded. "Do you need me to drive you?" She snapped her fingers in disappointment. "Crap, you're picking up your car from the mechanic today."
"You want to drive me so you can see what he looks like, don't you?"
"Of course!"
Sarah laughed. "Sucks for you."
"So you're pretty sure this cute guy isn't a model then, huh?"
Tilting her head, she gave Carina a flat look. "Stop reading into things in the meanest way possible."
"I'm just trying to get info."
"You're being a turd." She gave her friend an amused glare, hating that freaking innocent look she was so good at. "Anyway, if I parse through the conversations we had last night, I kind of get the impression he might be in retail."
Carina made a face.
"Snob. You're such a snob. Oh my God."
"What?! I didn't say anything."
"You made a face because this guy works in retail. You do realize I'm no prize in the job department, right? I now have to find something else because my holiday job is officially over after last night. He at least has a job."
"There's nothing wrong with retail."
"Period. End sentence."
"But…"
"Nope. Stop it right now."
"I'm just saying. But I love you dearly, more than I would my own sister if I had one, and you know this, Sar, and I want you to find a very successful guy, and sure, maybe he can also be a model." She smirked teasingly, propping her chin in her palm.
"You ass. I have news for you. I would take a sweetheart who works hard in some retail store day in, day out to put food on his table over a model who fucks every woman he crosses paths with because he's constantly been handed the world in King Midas's cupped fucking hands for his whole life." She leaned in closer to Carina and nodded emphatically. "So there."
Carina relented with a nod. "Good point. So would I."
Sarah huffed. "Anyway, I'm a wreck. So this is a lot worse of a break for him than it is for me. This guy couldn't do much worse than a girl who's still in undergrad at twenty-four, has no clear path to any actually good law schools, lost one of her two jobs last night, and the other job is answering the phone at a kook chiropractor's office and plugging numbers into an Excel spreadsheet. And I don't even know how much longer I'll be doing that because I can't handle the smooth rock shit radio station they put on in there and the way he and his wife fight in his office every single day because she also works there. So pretty soon I'll be jobless and that's what he invited to his Halloween party tonight." Shaking her head, she flicked at a crumb on her table in frustration. "Why am I doing this? Why am I going? Red, this is crazy. This sweet, nice, unsuspecting guy…"
"Sarah, he saw you in that weird Victorian get-up with all the black lace and the red eyes and blood coming out of your mouth and then he asked you to his party. He's probably not as unsuspecting as you think."
Snorting, she shrugged. "Good point."
"You liked him?"
"Yeah. I did. He seems really sweet. Like, genuinely nice. And he made me laugh."
"Bonus." Carina smiled sincerely. "Okay, so you wanna come over and borrow something for tonight? I assume it's a costume party…?"
Sarah raised her eyebrows. "That's a good idea. Your closet is sort of like walking into one of those Spirit Halloween stores."
"Ew, shut the fuck up. Forget it. Invitation rescinded." But still, she cackled at Sarah's teasing.
"I'm kidding. And nah, thank you though. I'll scrounge something up."
Carina finally had to leave, and Sarah ended up at the table alone, finishing her coffee and muffin, dwelling on the whole situation again.
It had taken twenty-four years for her to even get this far, and it felt like every step forward came with two steps backward. She finally got enough money to get out of the living situation with her conman dad who left her to fend for herself most of the time anyway when he went off on jobs or got caught and arrested for short stints in prison as she grew up. But when she got her own place at eighteen, it was with two women in their late thirties who cooked crack. That lasted for a month, considering they stole a lot of her things and sold them. And when she found something more stable than that, her dad came back and ruined it for her by conning that roommate.
Carina moved back from San Francisco by that time and they were able to room together for a while until Sarah was able to get enrolled in community college a few years late and was provided with a housing stipend by the college.
And in the meantime, things were strained between her and Carina because not all of the jobs Sarah took in that time were on the up and up, and Carina was constantly trying to pull her out of that shit her father had plunged her into.
She'd needed money though.
Even now, she knew if one of those opportunities opened up and she had an easy job with one of her dad's old contacts, something that meant quick and easy money, she wasn't sure it'd be easy to say no to.
Luckily that one arrest for being involved in a forgery con when she was sixteen was expunged from her record by the DA after she did community service. It was her "last chance", the DA told her.
Which meant, she wouldn't have to explain any of that on any law school applications. And once she went to law school, those types of jobs were out of the question. That was a promise she'd made herself.
She was keeping to it.
But now she had a bunch of messy relationships in her rearview mirror, the last one leaving an ache in her that was still kind of fresh in spite of it being four months since he screwed her up.
And here came Chuck with his kind eyes and ready smile, the guy who got ditched and made into a third wheel all night by his face-sucking friends and didn't seem all that bothered by it, even going so far as to buy them both beers in spite of their treatment of him. The way he congratulated her for finishing her Ghostpo job, and for getting through her shit day.
Chuck was such a one-eighty from the man who'd called her earlier on in the day, the way he pestered her about his stupid leather jacket he'd left in her car. And then he'd had the gall to actually flirt. Luckily, she was able to inform him the jacket was in a garbage dump somewhere, because when she'd found it still in her car after he'd dumped her and told her he'd been cheating, she dropped it into a dumpster outside of a burger joint in downtown Pasadena.
Bye.
She washed her hands of that bullshit. Even if the ache was still fresh.
That was mostly her pride at this point.
Something about the guy last night—Chuck—made her think that kind of garbage behavior wasn't his thing. Granted, he was a man, so maybe she just hadn't seen any red flags yet. The bad thing was that in the past, she'd ignored red flags.
This guy didn't have any to ignore.
And wasn't she a hypocrite? Considering she was a walking, talking red flag.
Shaking her head, she got up from the table, plopped money in the middle of it, and left. She needed to get out of her head and figure out what she'd be wearing tonight. Because if she let herself get too caught up in her thoughts, her doubts, and her own faults and flaws, she'd never make it to that party. And she was worried that she'd miss out on something potentially…big…if that happened.
}o{
It took a bit for her to find parking, and once she did, she sat in the car for a few minutes, watching as a couple holding hands crossed the street in their matching superhero costumes and turned to go through the gate.
She was at the right place, at least.
Which meant in a few minutes, this would actually be happening.
She needed to just take some deep breaths and then she could go in.
Chuck had seemed so unassuming and chill, self-deprecating, sweet. She'd dated enough men by now that this should be such an easy thing to walk into by comparison. No machismo, no cool facade. But maybe it was the fact that Chuck was all of those things without the machismo that had her pausing. She'd liked him a lot last night, and she'd felt comfortable.
Enough that walking away after they finished their beers sitting out on the edge of the rose garden fountain had felt…wrong. Every step she took, she had a voice in her head deriding her for being a coward, and another voice telling her to run away from this potentially good thing while she still could.
Thankfully, Chuck had been the one to make the move, because she didn't know if she would've had the guts to if he didn't.
And she'd known how ridiculous she was when she'd wiped off all of her makeup in the changing area for cast members, changed, and headed back out after her shift. It was ridiculous that she felt sad that he wasn't hanging around like some of the other people who'd been on her tour. It was ridiculous that she'd glanced around a little when leaving.
It was only by chance that she'd taken the detour through the rose garden, and there he was, sitting on the edge of the fountain, sipping a beer. Alone, again. The poor guy.
She was so glad, too. Because she'd needed the beers, but more than that, talking with him had seemingly erased all of the bad shit from the rest of the day, including Noah's frustrating phone call. It felt good, sitting next to him, talking. She hadn't felt like he had expectations. They'd just talked, he'd made her laugh, they shared beers, and she found herself opening up to him even.
And that was why she got out of her car finally and made her way down the sidewalk to the entrance of this courtyard party of his.
It was only as she walked in, the blaring music smacking her in the face as she did, that she realized he'd mentioned his sister last night. Oh God. His sister was here too. She'd meet his sister. Jesus Christ, what was she doing here?
Speaking of Jesus Christ, he stood over by the rows of coolers where the drinks were. Long beard and robes and all. Interesting.
There was a surgeon, a "sexy" nurse (she rolled her eyes a bit at that), one of those hilarious inflatable T-Rex costumes, and multiple types of aliens and such she imagined were from sci-fi movies or TV shows she hadn't watched.
But then she turned her head a bit quickly and the string to the eyepatch she'd bought at a Dollar Store earlier snapped just behind her ear. She just barely managed to catch it before it fell to the ground. "Are you serious?" she breathed to herself.
The eyepatch was the selling point. Without it, she was a girl with a scarf on her head, a white flowy shirt, a black vest, dark brown pants, and the same black boots she'd worn last night for those two tours she'd guided.
Fuck it. She stuck the eyepatch in her small burlap shoulder strap purse—the most piratey thing she could find in her closet at short notice. Because of course she'd waited 'til right before leaving to throw something together.
And now she was trying to find the man who'd invited her in the first place and when she found him, he'd know she half-assed this part of the assignment. She felt foolish.
"UH OOOHHH! LOOK WHO'S DECIDED TO JOIN THE PAAAAARTTTYYYYY!"
The music stopped, there was a record scratch, and everybody moved back away from the fountain that was in the middle of the courtyard. Sarah followed suit because she had no idea what was going on.
Then an intense space shuttle launch countdown started over the speaker, including one of those annoying alarm sounding Bwoo-bwoo-BWOOOOOOOOP things.
"5…
4…
3…
2…
1…"
One of the doors of the apartments swung open then and an epic piece of electronic, synth music with electric guitar broke out, a strobe swinging back and forth. And suddenly a weird giant brown mouth looking thing erupted out of the door to the raucous cheers of the partygoers. And behind it came a long body.
It was some kind of worm or snake mounted on two people who were prancing around the fountain and tossing their heads, making the giant worm dance.
Everyone else whooped and hollered, and a chant of, "Go sandworm! Go sandworm! Go! Go! Go! Go sandworm!" broke out.
Sarah found herself cracking up. This wasn't the Halloween party she'd expected, but she really should have expected it. She really should have.
But then as the sandworm danced its way around towards where she was watching the production with a massive grin on her face, the person in the head of the worm stopped dead in their tracks, making whoever was in the back of the worm slam into their back.
"Wh—Dude! What the heck! Why'd you stop?!" she heard, muffled by whatever material the worm was made out of.
And suddenly the person in the head of the worm grabbed at it and lifted it off of their own head to reveal… oh.
Her grin grew ten sizes as he gaped at her, his curls mussed by the worm costume he'd been wearing. "I should've known it was you under there," she said quietly.
The backside of the worm was tossed off of the other guy and he stood up, having not noticed her yet, or the fact that Chuck was now openly gawking, a smile slowly spreading over his face. "Chuck! Dude! Did you forget? We make the full rotation around the fountain, and then we do another lap through the crowd. And then the conga li—Oh, hey." He turned to finally follow the taller man's glance, greeting her, and turning back to continue to berate Chuck…only to freeze, and do a double take. "Holy shit, who's this?!"
Chuck finally seemed to get a hold of himself. "Hi. You came."
"Yeah." She shrugged. "I came. Did you think I wasn't going to?"
He shook his head vehemently. "No, it's n-not that. Not at all. I mean, I hoped you would. I'm glad you did."
Well, this was a pretty fantastic start, she had to admit.
He tucked the worm head under his arm. "Morgan, we're gonna have to do this again later. Um, if that's cool with you." He kept his soft gaze on her and she didn't realize how much of an impression he'd made on her last night until right in this moment as he looked at her like this with his hair like that, and the smile on his face.
She really liked him, and more than that, she was suddenly realizing she'd also been genuinely attracted to him. It was washing over her in tsunami-sized waves.
Was she actively drowning?
Maybe.
"Dude. You…take…all the time in the world, 'kay? Shit, we can just put it off 'til next Halloween." The backside of the worm cleared his throat and blindly reached over to pat his friend on the chest, still staring at her with massive eyes. "You do you, dude."
"Thanks, buddy."
And then he seemed to shake himself a little. "Where are my manners? Crap. Uh, Morgan… Morgan." He clamped his hand down on the shorter man's shoulder. "This is my best friend, Morgan. You saw him for a second last night when the tour got started."
"Ah yes, of course." She'd recognized him, and she still had a bit of an inner side-eye for the guy for ditching his friend so often to make-out with his girlfriend. Then again, maybe that had enabled the bond she and Chuck had formed? Maybe she should go easy on the guy…? "Morgan. Nice to meet you officially." She stuck her hand out.
He awkwardly shifted the worm under his left arm and grabbed her right hand with his clammy one. "Hey! Hi."
"This is Sarah," Chuck announced then. When they both looked at him, he cleared his throat and shook himself again. "Oh. Right. Morgan, she was our tour guide last night."
Morgan's jaw just about hit the ground. "What?!" He grabbed blindly for Chuck's arm and gripped onto his sleeve, and then he spun to look at him. "This is Molly?! You invited Molly to come to this party?! What did I miss?!"
Sarah pursed her lips, highly amused.
"Dude," Morgan rasped in Chuck's direction, literally pawing at him at this point. "Dude. DUDE!"
"Okay, I need you to please get a grip," Chuck hissed back, wrestling Morgan's hands off of him. "Sarah, I'm so so glad you're here. This…this worm is super clunky and heavy, though. You mind if we put 'im away real quick and I'll be right back. Immediately. Posthaste." He pleaded with her, one hand reaching out to touch her wrist, his fingers warm and gentle. "And then I will not leave your side again, I promise."
"Who would?"
Sarah laughed out loud as Morgan looked immediately regretful that those words had come out of his mouth. "Of course I don't mind."
"Okay. Okay, thanks. Yeah. Be right back. You want somethin' to drink? I'll grab it for you on the way back." He was already backing towards the door, Morgan dutifully following with the other half of the worm.
"Beer would be great, thanks."
"You got it. BRB. Heh. BRB with a B. Heheh." She heard him snap a whispered curse as he spun on his heel and grabbed Morgan, the two of them rushing inside.
Sarah Walker was one hundred percent certain that he was talking about her with his best friend, and his best friend was most likely losing his mind. It definitely wasn't about her half-assed last-minute piss-poor pirate outfit.
But apparently she'd made some kind of impression last night.
She didn't have to wait long, however, for Chuck to pick his way through the crowd back to her, beer in hand. He stopped in front of her—tan shirt, tan pants and all—and smiled softly again. "Your eyes."
Sarah tilted her head. "My…eyes? Is there something wrong with them?" Had the stupid eyepatch made her go cross-eyed or something?
"They're blue," he breathed warmly. She realized as he stared into them that he'd only seen them as red last night, since she'd left in those contacts the whole time she'd been around him. He hadn't known what color her eyes really were. Until now.
"Yeah. They're blue."
He nodded. "Your eyes are… Uh, ahem, sorry. They're beautiful."
Well God damn.
She wasn't expecting that at all. Maybe a little awkwardness at first, some small talk, a few introductions. But this had been—in quick succession—a weird worm dance explosion, the revelation that Chuck himself had been in said worm, a highly energetic and slightly strange introduction to his best friend, and now he'd smacked her across the face with a sincere heart melting compliment.
All this right out of the gate?
She was in way over her head.
And still, she stepped in closer. "Thank you."
"Oh yeah, sure. You're, um, welcome." Then he glanced down at the beer in his hand. "Oh shit. This is for you. I opened it already. For you. You liked the bottled Corona last night so I figured you'd be okay with it tonight too. Or! Or, there's canned beer. If you'd prefer that. I can go get you one of those." She took the beer from him and he looked down at his empty hands blankly. "God damn, I'm a doofus. I forgot to get myself one. I'm parched. It's hot under that Shai-Hulud head and we were waiting in there for our big entrance for, like, twenty minutes before Awesome got his shit together and found our special intro track. I'm glad he did though 'cause it meant you got to see Shai-Hulud 'cause it's a big deal, and then at the same time, I'm kinda embarrassed you saw it? Lots of warring emotions about this…"
She giggled and stepped in even closer, putting her hand on his arm, squeezing. "Okay, hold on. Deep breath. In through your nose, out through your mouth." He did as she asked, and then he gave her his cute, self-deprecating smile.
"Did I just spiral at you?"
"Yes. It's okay, it's pretty cute. But I don't want you to hyperventilate or anything. Let's go get you a beer, Shai-Whatever."
"Hulud," he provided as they walked shoulder to shoulder through the party towards the drinks. "It's the sandworm. From Dune."
"Oh, boy."
What had she gotten herself into?
}o{
Sarah heard Chuck groan quietly as she leaned into the ice chest to grab him a Corona. She straightened up and gave him the beer, frowning at him in question. "Thanks," he muttered. "Also, I'm so so so so sorry in advance."
"What? Wh—?"
She turned and followed his gaze then. Morgan was quite literally manhandling a beautiful dark-haired woman through the party towards where they were as she glared at him over her shoulder, growling, "If you don't quit it right now, I will murder you and feed you to the coyotes."
"Just look!" he hissed into her ear, finally stopping in front of Chuck and Sarah.
The woman fixed her fourteenth century gown she wore, giving him one last snotty look, before she turned, and her green eyes went wide. To her credit, she schooled her features a lot faster than anyone else had so far, including Chuck. "Oh. Hi. I'm Ellie. Welcome. This is my party…"
She seemed not to understand who had invited this new person she'd never met before to her party. Oh God, this was her party, meaning this was Chuck's sister. Wow, that was fast. She hadn't even had a proper conversation that was more than a handful of words with Chuck yet tonight and here she was meeting his sister. Jesus, she wasn't at all prepared.
"Hi," Sarah said with what felt like a lame wave of her hand.
"Ahem." Chuck finally stepped up. "Sarah, this is Ellie, my sister. Slash Maid Marian. And, uh, Ellie? This is Sarah. I invited her to come tonight and…here she is." He turned and breathed, "I'm so sorry," one more time, looking miserable. Poor guy.
Ellie gaped again.
"Hi, Sarah. Hi. I'm Ellie. He told you that. And I told you that before he did. So I'm just introducing myself again. A third time. Hi." She reached over the ice chest and they shook hands.
"Hi, Ellie. Nice to meet you."
"I'm sorry. Sorry to ask. I just need…clarification. You were asked to come tonight, you were invited to this party, by Chuck…?"
Sarah pulled her lips between her teeth and nodded. "Yes. That's what happened."
Ellie nodded jerkily. "Just to check." She reached over and grabbed Chuck's shoulder tightly, shaking him. "My brother Chuck? This Chuck that I'm grabbing right now?"
She had to bite her cheek from laughing. Who were these people? "That's the one, yeah."
The woman's features cleared then and she let out a bubbly laugh, covering her face with both hands. And then she just beamed. She nearly ran right through the ice chest, then stopped, and gave Morgan a look. "Morgan, move the igloo."
"Ma'am yes ma'am," he rushed out, hurrying to the igloo chest and shifting it to the side.
Ellie closed the distance and hugged her tightly. "Hi! It's so nice to meet you! This must be so fucking weird for you, I'm so sorry, I'm sure Chuck will explain this to you someday but for now I hope we aren't scaring you."
"This is a little scary," she admitted, laughing as she hugged the woman back. "But I'm also pretty charmed."
Chuck's sister pulled back and she finally had a view of Chuck. He was as red as a tomato, his hands covering his mouth in utter mortification. She could hug the poor man. Ellie slid her hands down to hold onto Sarah's and she squeezed, directing the younger woman's blue eyes back to her face. "Well, you're very charming yourself. I'm so so so glad you're here. Over the moon. I could do backflips, honestly."
"Please don't do backflips, El."
"No, no. I won't. This cheap-ass dress couldn't handle it." Sarah snorted. "Can I give you one more hug?"
Sarah threw her hands up a little. "Sure. Why not?"
And frankly, the woman was an exceptional hugger, so Sarah secretly allowed herself the comfort of hugging her back, squeezing just as hard as Ellie was squeezing her.
"Welcome to our home," Ellie breathed then, and with one last squeeze, she pulled back, letting go of Sarah altogether and clasping her hands in front of her.
"Yeah, welcome to Casa de Bartowski." Chuck cleared his throat. "Or maybe tonight it's more like Casa de Locos."
"Shut up, you." Ellie gave him a gentle swat and Sarah giggled as he pouted at his sister. "Can I get you something to eat? There's stuff for fajitas inside of you want. My boyfriend is so good at making fajitas. He does the thing with the fire and everything. He's out on the patio in the back making more if you want to meet him?" She winced then, toning it down actively. Sarah could see her doing it. And it might be because Chuck was giving his sister a look Sarah couldn't see as he'd angled himself behind her a little. "Or! Maybe we can give you some time to recuperate before you meet Devon. Yeah. Good idea. When you're ready."
"Awesome's kind of, um…"
"Large?" Morgan provided.
"Big," Chuck said at the same time.
"He's a big personality," Ellie said after giving them both semi-glares. "And his name is Devon," she added in her brother's direction. She directed the next part at Sarah. "Don't listen to this goof with his 'Captain Awesome' nonsense."
"Okay," was all Sarah could say to that.
"Here, Sarah. I'll get you fajitas," Morgan said then. "You stay here and make sure my boy stays out of trouble. Chicken? Veggies? Corn or flour tortillas?"
"Aw, thank you, Morgan. Um…yes, yes, corn."
Morgan pointed at her. "Woman after my own heart. You take care of her, buddy."
"I, uh, I will," Chuck said, a pained tightness in his voice.
"I'll go with him. Sarah, please make yourself at home. You're with the best host there is. I know, 'cause I trained him," Ellie said, squeezing her brother's shoulder. "You go outside for the first time in two years that isn't just going to work and you bring a pirate back to meet the fam?" She winked at Sarah and smacked Chuck's chest teasingly before she rushed after Morgan.
Sarah couldn't help cracking up at that.
And as they left, Ellie stooped so that they could talk to each other in rushed tones as they went. She didn't hear much but she thought she heard Ellie hiss, "Why didn't you warn me…?"
Chuck popped the cap off of his beer and gulped down half of it. "Oh my God," he gasped out after swallowing and lowering the beer. "Fuck. I. Am. Sorry."
She giggled. "I like them a lot."
"I'm so glad. And I'm still so sorry."
"You don't have to apologize," she said, grabbing his arm. "Here, drink some more of that beer."
"Gladly." She laughed as he threw more of it back.
"What's this thing about Captain Awesome?"
He grinned crookedly and it was the first time she'd seen him smile like that. It was attractive, she could admit to herself. "My sister's boyfriend, Devon."
"Wait. So…you call him…Captain Awesome?"
"I do. Yes."
"Why?"
"Because he's awesome. Everything he does is awesome. And he does it awesomely. White water river rafting, jumping out of airplanes…flossing."
She laughed. "That's a good one. That's funny."
"I have my moments."
"You have a lot of 'em," she said. He smiled. "Your sister doesn't seem to like the nickname."
"She's…not a nickname fan." He held up a hand and chuckled. "Okay fine, it isn't all nicknames, it's just that one. It gets on her nerves. He loves it though." He shrugged.
"That seems like the most important thing."
"Thank you!" He reached over to clink his beer against hers. "I like you, Sarah."
"I like you too." She felt a stupid bit of shyness flare up. "But, uh, don't be offended if I call him Devon in front of your sister."
Chuck laughed. "That's totally fair. I won't be offended at all."
"Okay, good." She sipped her beer.
}o{
After inhaling the two tortillas full of chicken and vegetables that Morgan brought back for her and finishing her beer, Sarah decided she'd done enough recuperating and she owed the guy who'd made such delicious food a greeting.
By now, she was sure his girlfriend had already given him the lowdown.
And if she hadn't, Morgan had.
In fact, it seemed like the fact that she was standing with Chuck and hadn't budged from his side had started making the rounds at the party in general. She kept catching people stealing glances at her, sometimes at Chuck.
"Hey," she muttered, slipping her hand into Chuck's as he came back to her with a second beer. "I can't keep avoiding your sister's boyfriend. I just ate his fajitas, and I dunno about you, but when I eat fajitas this good, I have to thank the person who made 'em."
He chuckled and nodded. "Sounds like a plan. I shall take you to meet the fajita man." He pointed at her with his beer holding hand and went, "Ahhhh! Did you like that rhyming?"
"Oh God."
And she maybe kept her hand in Chuck's as he weaved through the party, around the fountain at the center of the courtyard and into the apartment. She realized she'd been here for almost an hour now and she hadn't been inside of the apartment.
"This where you live?" she asked, moving up onto her tiptoes to speak into his ear so that he could hear her over the hubbub of the people inside the apartment.
"Uh…" He reached up and scratched behind his ear, beer still in hand. "Yeah, yeah I live here."
She raised her eyebrows, taking it all in even as they moved through it towards the wide open patio door on the other side of the living room, past the nice dining table and chairs. "It's really nice! I like it. Very cozy. I mean, full of people right now. But cozy, still."
"I really love it, you know? I mean, it's my home. I'll show you more of it in a bit if you'd like."
Sarah smiled, letting him lead her out into the back patio where smoke billowed up from the large barbecue. A tall blond man who was exceptionally fit, at least from behind, had just opened it up and was shaking the large basket thing with the vegetables back and forth, moving them around to make sure they were all properly cooked.
"A'rriiight, who is ready for more fajitaaaas, huhhh?" he asked over his shoulder.
She realized he was Robin Hood when he slapped a nearby Morgan on the back, handed him the spatula, and moved away from the barbecue to smack his green pointy hat with the feather onto his head. It all came together. And he had a quiver with arrows on his back. Of course.
And Ellie was Maid Marian…
They were adorable.
But then he turned around, his beer raised to his lips, and he choked on it when he saw her. His eyes slipped down to where their hands were clasped together, her hand clasped tightly in Chuck's, and he choked harder. Chuck sent her a wry look, moved to grab a nearby bottle of water, and handed it to the blonde.
"Thanks," he rasped. "Hey. Just…Just a second…" He drained the rest of the water in the bottle and gasped a little. "Whose was that?" he asked, crinkling the bottle in a fist.
"Mine," Morgan muttered a bit morosely.
"Sorry, dude. I'll get you a new one." He pointed at the much shorter man. "You saved my life."
Chuck cleared his throat. "Capt—Erm, Devon?" He widened his eyes at Sarah and she smirked. "Devon, this is Sarah. I invited her to the party tonight. And, uh, this is Devon. Ellie's boyfriend."
"Arrrrrrrrrrr!" He curled his finger like a hook and guffawed happily. "Love the costume, Sarah. Happy Halloween!" And of course he dove in for a tight hug, too.
"Happy Halloween," she said, losing her voice a bit he squeezed her so hard.
He stepped back and tipped his Robin Hood hat back a bit further on his hair, almost a little rakishly, eyeing Chuck significantly. "Bro." He winked and then he nodded emphatically. Then he looked back at Sarah. "Anybody Chuck invites to my home is always welcome." It sounded like Chuck, his sister, and his sister's boyfriend all lived in this same complex. That was pretty cute. It sounded like a real family, a functional, close, tight-knit family. "Want some fajitas? They're bomb, if I do say so myself."
"Oh. So bomb. I had piles of it already." He looked at her in confusion.
"I brought her some so she could canoodle with my man Chuck over here," Morgan explained over his shoulder.
"Canoodle?" she heard Chuck mutter in agony.
She laughed. "Yeah, uh, Morgan brought me some. The second I finished them, I had to come say hi and congratulate you. Best fajitas I've ever had. And I'm born and raised Southern Californian, so…"
He did a celebratory dance. "Awesome!"
She looked at Chuck, raising her eyebrows.
"That, too."
She giggled.
"So where'd you two meet, huh? If you say the arcade, I'll faint," Devon said, pausing halfway back to the barbecue where Morgan was holding down the fort with the fajitas.
"Not the arcade," Chuck rushed out. "Uh, nope. Not-Not that."
"Awesome. Isnay on the arcadeyay," Morgan mumbled through clenched teeth. Very not subtle.
"Oh. Oh! Right. I mean, HA HA. Chuck doesn't go to arcades! Ever! Not for…any reason. That's…that's dweeb stuff, amiright?" He held up his hand for Chuck to high five.
"I'm not high hiving that," Chuck mumbled dully, the light having totally seeped out of his brown eyes.
Devon lowered his hand and gave Chuck an apologetic look.
"I'm a tour guide at the Ghostpo Park Walk at Exposition Park. Well, I was. The event's over now," she explained.
"You guys did that?" he asked, looking between Chuck and Morgan. "And I wasn't invited? Harsh, you guys."
"You were on shift last night!" Morgan tried. "And I didn't get the tickets, Anna did."
"Oh. Heyyyy, you guys dating again?"
"Psss pss shh…" Chuck tried.
But it was too late. "Man, I dunno!" Morgan threw his hands up. "I have no clue, you know? Like we were so hot'n'heavy last night but then I invited her to this and she said no and I'm like, girl, why you so cold?"
"Dammmmn," Devon drawled, nodding. "Maybe she had plans?"
"But she's like this a lot. I feel like I'm on a rollercoaster? Are we together or not? She says I'm her boyfriend and then she tiptoes and I don't even know what's…" He stopped, no doubt realizing Chuck and Sarah were right there and they'd been in the middle of a different conversation. "Right. Sorry."
"We can talk later, dude. My door is always open, you know that." Devon thumped his hand onto Morgan's shoulder, nearly sending the other man sprawling. "But not the window. That's not the door, it's the window. We've discussed this."
"Yeah." Morgan sighed. "We have."
Sarah turned to Chuck and leaned closer to him. "Do I wanna know?"
"Nope."
"Okay," she said with a nod, leaning back.
"Hey, well, we're gonna get back in there, but, uh, thanks for the fajitas, bro. They're amazing. Love ya."
Devon winked again. "Don't get out of here without a Devon and Sarah chat, okay? I wanna know more about that Ghost Walk thing. I was bummed I missed out." He sent Chuck and Morgan a glare.
Chuck winced.
"I'm not going anywhere," Sarah promised, holding up her hand. "Promise."
"Good."
As she left the patio, she heard Devon growl out a, "Bro, I'm so fuggin' proud of you, oh my God!"
Chuck hurried after her, though, and she decided to grant him some mercy and pretend she hadn't heard it. But before he could walk her out into the courtyard again, she grabbed his hand and stopped him. "Hey, do I get to see your room at least?"
Was she too forward? She realized belatedly how it sounded and she wondered how to backtrack that.
"Uhhhhhh…" He seemed reluctant.
"You don't have to," she rushed.
"No, it's just…" He chuckled and shook his head. "Yeah. Yeah, come on. I'll show it to you." But then he paused in the hallway.
She paused with him, turning to face him, looking up at him through her eyelashes. "Chuck, you really don't have to show me your room. I'm just—"
"No, no. I just wanna be honest with you, that's all."
"Oh. About…?"
He looked very uncomfortable, scratching the back of his neck, and he gestured for her to follow him. He took her to the door halfway down the hallway and opened it, letting her go in first before he followed.
She looked around the room and smiled immediately.
"Um, first thing: I'm a massive nerd. So there that is. The door is here if you want to run. Or if you want to make a faster escape, there's the window there behind those curtains. So. Yeah."
She took in the rows and rows of labeled boxes, very clearly filled with comic books, the video game consoles—more than one—the beat up sci-fi fantasy books, the records, and even a good number of action figures lining shelves. "I'm not running," she said through a smile. "But that does explain the whole…thing with the arcade weirdness out on the patio."
As Sarah turned to look at him, he groaned and rolled his eyes. "The guy tries so hard for me, he does, but sometimes…"
She pouted sympathetically and patted his chest. "So what's the second thing?"
"That's what I really wanted to say out in the hallway but I thought I'd just say it all in here, surrounded by my…nerdy crap." He shook his hands out and let out a deep breath, as if preparing for a swim meet or something. "Okay. Here goes. Sarah, this isn't just my place. This apartment, I mean."
"Oh. You have…roommates?"
He nodded. She tilted her head, confused. Why was that a bad thing? She'd only just recently been able to get her own place and it was basically a shoebox. He had nothing to be ashamed of with his roommates. "It's not just…" He sighed. "This is my room. Down the hall? That's Ellie and Awesome's room."
Oh. It all clicked. "You live with your sister and her boyfriend…"
"Yeah." He hung his head. "Yep. I live with my sister and her boyfriend."
"Okay." He blinked and peeked up at her. It was cute and sad, both at the same time. She shrugged. "I'm not judging you, Chuck. If I had a sibling I could live with in a comfortable spot like this, I totally would. As it is, I live in a fishbowl, so…"
He snorted hard. "Well, thank you for being so nice about it. Really."
"I'm not being nice, Chuck. There's nothing for you to be ashamed of."
Sighing, he plopped down to sit on his bed and chuckled. "God. Being around you is such a relief. Oh. You don't mind…me saying that, do you? Is that kinda intense for a first date?"
She was so busy melting at that first part that she nearly missed the end there. Her eyebrows shot up into her pirate's bandana. And then she slowly moved to sit next to him. "Is this a date?"
Chuck's eyes went wide. He must not have realized what he said until she asked the question. "Uh…" He narrowed his eyes. "Well? Well. Well?" He cleared his throat, rubbing his hands up and down his pants. She felt a little bit evil for letting him agonize like this but it was too cute and her insides were doing things that felt really good. It was so refreshing, so fantastically refreshing, finally having good things happen inside of her. She was so used to dealing with the bad shit. "Honestly, I dunno why I asked you to come to a party where you'd immediately get accosted by my people. That was nuts. What I really should've done was ask you out on a date. Just the two of us going somewhere. On a date."
"So…this…is a date?" she asked quietly.
"Well, I—Unless you don't want—Because if—I really just liked being around you last night so I wanted to be around you some more and I thought this party I would've been kinda miserable at would be a lot better if you were here." He pushed his hands through his hair, frustrated. "You know what? Fuck it. I'd really like this to be a date, yeah. If that's okay with you."
She shrugged nonchalantly. "Sure, yeah."
"Oh." He deflated a bit. Furrowed his brow. And then he chuckled, and the chuckle became a laugh. She laughed with him. "Oh. Well, I'm an idiot. So…"
"You're not an idiot. You're really cute, though."
He blushed and looked very pleased. "But this is a date?""It's a date, yes."
"Rad."
That made her giggle. And then she reached over with her beer bottle. "To first dates where you accost your date with your people immediately."
He cracked up. "Oh my God, you're such a good sport, I can't even deal with it. Cheers."
They drank, and Sarah found she was…sort of filled with light. A little bit.
And God, that was new.
}o{
"So I told Chuck I never wanted to see it again. And you know what this stinker did?"
"What?" Sarah grinned, leaning close to Chuck's sister as the other woman reached over and shoved at his shoulder.
The guests had since left, everyone gone save for Sarah, and now she sat at their table with Chuck, Ellie, and Devon, the four of them still nursing beers. It had to be after two in the morning.
"I came home from a late night after working a shift at the restaurant, turned on my bedroom light, and found a red balloon just floating in the middle of my room, all shiny and menacing."
"Noooooo!" Sarah groaned.
"Dick move, Chuck," Devon said, nudging Chuck's other shoulder. "Classic, though." Ellie glared. "But complete dick move," he hurried, catching the glare.
"I don't fuck with clowns," Sarah said. "You better not do that to me or you're never getting another date, buster. Not on your life." She couldn't help flirting with Chuck, even in front of his family. Maybe it was how late it was. Or maybe the beers and the good food had made her drop all of her inhibitions, her fortifications tumbling down the longer she spent time with these wonderful people. They just felt so good to be around. She felt comfortable and safe here.
Chuck pursed his lips, then teased the label on his beer with one finger, narrowing his eyes thoughtfully. "Sooooo question…"
"Mhm?" She leaned her chin on her palm.
"If I promise to never ever do that to you, does that mean I do get another date?"
"Oh ho hoooooo… He—"
"Devon," Ellie hissed.
The room was silent as she let her jaw fall open, keeping her eyes on him. "Are you actually asking me out on a date this time? Not 'do you wanna come to this party I'm throwing', but like actually asking me out?"
Devon let out a quiet whistle.
"Devon, I'll kill you," Ellie hissed again.
Silence again.
Chuck cleared his throat, tilted his beer a little, then righted it again. And when his eyes met hers, she thought maybe someone had crawled under her chair, struck a match, and lit it on fire. "Do you want to go out on another date with me, Sarah?"
"Yes. I do."
Devon literally looked like he was about to burst. But maybe because he valued his life, he merely held up a hand for Chuck to high five.
"This, I will high five." And Chuck met the high five, slapping the blonde's hand hard.
"Well, now that you two settled that…" Ellie was beaming and it made Sarah feel extra good. She really liked his sister a lot. She was sweet, funny, eerily observant, and unlike Chuck, she seemed to be a better judge of…rules. That was the best way she could explain it. She seemed to have tact, and the rest of the bunch around here simply…didn't. "I'm very tired," she finished through a yawn. "So I'm going to say goodnight and collapse into my God. Damn. Bed."
Sarah laughed. "I don't blame you. It was such a great party. Best Halloween party ever."
She felt Chuck grinning hard at her.
"I'm so glad you had fun." Ellie squeezed her arm and leaned over to kiss her cheek. It made Sarah blush. She couldn't help it. "Don't be a stranger, huh?" Pushing up to her feet, the brunette snagged the strange veil thing she'd taken off partway through the night from the table and pointed at both of her men. "You even touch any of those dishes before noon tomorrow, I'll throw your dead bodies in the LA river."
"Think it's bone dry at the moment, babe, so…" Devon said, climbing to his feet as well. He leaned down and gave Sarah a bear hug from above, making her giggle in surprise.
"Well then I'll be tossing you straight onto bone dry cement and it'll hurt more. All the better." She made a face at her boyfriend, then grabbed his hand. "Come on, Robin."
"Yeeeeees, Maid Marian."
Sarah didn't miss the meaning in the way Devon pointed at Chuck and gave him a thumbs up with a wink. And maybe she didn't mind it, either.
Chuck turned back to her. "I was gonna do some dishes, but I'd rather not be murdered and thrown in the empty river before I get that second date with you." He snapped his fingers in frustration. "We wouldn't even feel getting thrown onto cement because we'd be dead! Damn it, I should've said that while she was still here. That would've been a good comeback."
Sarah laughed. "Well…" She didn't want to say it. But damn it, she also didn't want to overstay her welcome. And on the first date? That was really bad form.
Chuck groaned. "You're going to say you should get going, right?"
She nodded shyly.
"Damn." But he smiled good-naturedly, nodding as well. And he stood up with a big stretch. "Not gonna lie, if there was some magic…something I could do to make this night just stretch and stretch and stretch for a super long time so we could just sit here and talk…?"
She smiled up at him. The things he said, the things he kept saying all night, even complimenting her truly last-minute crappy pirate outfit in a way that made her blush even while it was supremely dorky, the way she caught him looking at her more than once, and how he'd look away with a blush of his own, scratching his head almost like a sweet cartoon character or something, she didn't want to go anywhere. And she knew when she walked out of here and got in her car to drive home, she would yearn for that second date until he was standing in front of her again.
She could laugh at herself for the stupid crap she said to Carina this morning.
I'm literally just going to a Halloween party tonight. It's. A. Party. One party.
Little had she known…
Carina wasn't going to let her hear the end of this. Oh God.
She pushed her friend out of her head and finally stood up, gathering her purse and sighing. "Well, thanks. I had—"
"Can I walk—?"
They both ducked their heads and chuckled as they spoke over one another. She fixed the strap of her purse on her shoulder and gave him a shy one shoulder shrug. "You wanna walk me out to my car?"
"Yes, please," he said with a self-deprecating smile, sticking his hands in his pockets.
"Okay," she giggled.
And out they went. She bit her lip hard, then slipped her fingers around his, teasing them, playing with them just a little as he walked her out to his car.
"So can I call you about date number two? We can sort out our schedules and stuff and plan something, yeah?"
"Perfect. Yeah."
"Okay, good."
She gestured to her car as they neared it. "This is me."
"Oh hey. You got your car back. It looks good for having been in a fender bender."
"Yeah, thanks." And of course he'd remembered the details of their conversation last night, when she'd opened up like that. Because he was thoughtful and cared about what she had to say, even when he'd only just met her. "It's all good now."
"Good. I'm glad."
They stopped at her car then and she turned to look up at him. "Thank you, Chuck. For tonight. If I hadn't come here, I'm positive I would've done something way less exciting." She sighed. "Full disclosure, it would've either been miserably foolish and stupid, or it would've been miserably boring. This was so, so much better."
"You really did have fun? My family didn't…" He glanced back. "I dunno. They're a lot sometimes. Not that I'm complaining or anything. I know I'm super lucky to have them and I love them fiercely."
The way he said that… God, who was this guy? The way he just said things so candidly that guys she'd been with before would have an aneurism just thinking let alone saying out loud. He loved his family fiercely? She liked him so much.
"They love you back. And it's clear. And no, your family didn't make me feel anything but…welcomed. It's the most comfortable I've been with people I've just met. Please thank them again for me, too. I feel like I didn't say it before your sister and her boyfriend left to go to bed." She squeezed his hand.
"You got it. I'll let them know."
"And thank you. Again. For inviting me here." She didn't want to say it out loud, but it was easily the best date she'd ever been on. And she'd certainly had pretty good dates before. "And for not making fun of this really poorly constructed costume."
"Hey. I wore tan pants and a tan shirt all night. Double tan."
"Not all night. They made you do a couple encores with that sandworm thing."
"The people love us, what can I say?" The boyish giggle he let out made her wonder if she couldn't just fly home. And God, she thought that cheesy shit after only one night with him? She needed to watch herself with this guy.
And because she was feeling a little crazy, she bit her lip and stepped in close, taking his hand and tugging him in to meet her. She moved up onto her tiptoes and she kissed him. It was supposed to be quick. A goodnight kiss. A see you later or see you soon sort of kiss.
But then he got his bearings and kissed her back. And this was the most he'd touched her…ever. His hands cupping the small of her back, pulling her in tight, their lips moving together.
And by the time they broke for air, Sarah wondered what in the actual fuck was happening. Because this was intense suddenly, and she hadn't even felt it moving in that direction. It had just been this natural shift throughout the night.
And now they'd kissed and she was absolutely burning.
"Uh…" He gently took his hands off of her, and the extremely adorable man even took a step back, as if he needed that space there to calm himself down. "Goodnight and I'll talk to you soon?"
She nodded jerkily. "Goodnight and we'll talk soon. Very soon."
Why was she still burning? She needed to stop burning.
She needed to get in her car and drive home and take a cold shower to stop this fiery flaming burning from overwhelming her.
And he backed towards the gate, lifting his hand in a tense wave. Was he burning too? He had to be. "Well… G'night!"
She waved back and he ducked into the courtyard, disappearing.
She wondered if he sprinted back to his apartment and dove in through that window of his.
And she climbed into her car, swinging into the seat behind the driving wheel, buckling her seatbelt, even turning on her car. And then she just sat there. And she let out a rough breath.
And she turned off the car again. She unbuckled her seatbelt. She got out of the car, slammed the door shut, growling at herself the whole time, shaking her head, cursing herself for being a total mess, a fuck-up to the nth degree.
She walked into the courtyard. Stopped. Backed out again to click the button on her fob to actually lock her car door, because how great would it be if after everything she'd paid for on that thing today it got stolen?
And she marched right up to the door of the apartment.
No.
No no.
She backtracked to the window. And then she took another breath and let it out slowly.
The burning was still there, as strong as it had been when he'd practically run away from her after that sizzling kiss out by her car.
She rapped her knuckles lightly on the window.
This…was his window, right? Oh God oh God oh—Thank God.
The curtains were pushed to the side and he just stared at her, gawking. "S-Sarah?" he mouthed. And then he hurriedly opened up the window. "You okay? Your car okay?"
"Yes. Yes." And then she licked her lips. "Can I come in there? With you?"
She saw the burning she was feeling in his eyes.
And he nodded, reaching out a hand to help her. But she'd crawled in and out of windows enough times before. And not just windows on the first floor, either.
She made quick work of it and she was standing there, watching him shut and lock the window, let the curtains fall back into place. And when he turned to face her, she reached up to tear the bandana off of her head, dropping her purse to the floor at her feet.
And before she could go to him, he lunged at her, his lips on hers, his hands grabbing her by her waist and hoisting her up into his arms, her legs automatically wrapping around his waist.
Just like that, her back was against the mattress, his weight lowering onto her, touching her in a way that only seemed to make the burning worse.
Well.
Shit.
A/N: Well.
Shit.
Please review. Thanks for reading this little Halloween ditty.
-SC