A/N – the usual disclaimers apply, I don't own Chuck, yada yada. I still have no beta and I'd love for you to join us over on Facebook. Sorry it's taken so long to update but life's been getting in the way.

Chapter 14

After the short drive to his apartment, Chuck went straight upstairs and quickly got showered, coming back down minutes later in his usual nightwear.

"We could've done that together" the blonde teased as she met him at the foot of the stairs. He nodded in response and ran his hand gently down her arm, kissing her cheek when they got closer.

The nerd cursed himself inwardly for a second but stepped past her "but you said…" she raised a single brow playfully and smiled up at him.

"…I'll just go shower alone then" she continued, tracing a finger across his jaw as she went up the first step "…all that hot water running down my body" she teased again, snorting at his pet lip, but deliberately swaying her hips all the way upstairs.

The nerd shook his head with a wry smile before going into the kitchen and grabbing them both a glass of wine from the fridge. He went back into the den and turned on the nearby computer, sitting down to his task, the tall nerd's long fingers quickly blurring across his keyboard. The lanky hacker briefly heard her hum tunelessly from upstairs, making him pause with another faraway grin, before the bathroom door closed and the shower turned on, obscuring the sound. As he distractedly pictured her lithe form just a few yards away, his typing subconsciously slowed, matching the tempo of the cascading water he heard from upstairs now. He sat that way for a couple of seconds before shaking his head to clear another obviously distracting train of thought and forcing himself to concentrate on the search instead.

A few minutes later, Sarah walked back into his living room wearing a baggy t-shirt and boy shorts, running her fingers through her hair quickly and pulling it into a loose ponytail. "Have you finished checking your emails?" she challenged playfully with another teasing grin before taking a sip of her wine.

Chuck gave her a stink eye, before pushing the keyboard away "…this tracking program is probably still our best chance of catching Neo" the nerd turned towards the screen again, rubbing his eyes a little sleepily "…the problem is, hackers like me are super paranoid about being caught. And my program is taking some time to get past whatever security he's been using to stay hidden. How much longer will it take? Depends on how good he really is."

Sarah frowned in response before leaning into his side, resting her head on top of his. "Nothing about HIM is good" she answered with a terse tone. Chuck dropped his mouse and rested that hand on her hip reassuringly, making her smile gently down at him "…we just need to catch him before he can hurt anyone else" she concluded, a little softer as her slender fingers gripped the nerds shoulder when he began typing again.

"So what's next?" the blonde asked as she reached his side, leaning over and kissing his cheek, her still damp hair falling against his neck.

The hacker smiled back, moving her ponytail and wiggling his brows playfully "…hmm, that depends."

She ran her slender fingers through his curls briefly, making his eyelids flutter "…on what?" she said, with a wry smile, enjoying the way his hair tickled her hand.

"On whether you really want to spend the next few hours watching me tapping away on this keyboard, or if I should turn this thing off and we just go back upstairs, see what happens..." The nerd swivelled his chair around and pulled her down to sit on his knee, cradling her lovingly with his long arms. They sat like that for a little while, tenderly caressing each other and starting to make out.

After a couple of minutes, Sarah pulled away "Chuuuuck" she moaned a little breathlessly, still stroking the curls on the back of his neck "…I thought we needed to come back here to look for Neo" he wiggled his brows suggestively again and dropped his hand to her hip, making her snort "…or did you just want me to sleep in your bed?" she asked with a faux pout.

The nerd sat back defensively, raising a hand to his chest with a cheeky smile "…Moi?" he chuckled, shaking his head "no" and nuzzling back into her neck. His featherlike breaths fluttering against her skin and making the blonde's whole body shiver wonderfully. For a moment, Sarah forgot about Neo again and wanted to pull him back into another long kiss, follow her desires all the way to their wonderful conclusion, but then a huge yawn overtook him, breaking the mood.

"Sorry" he mumbled into her hair a few seconds later and moved away, leaving her mind racing in frustration. "I haven't slept much in the last couple of days…" he apologised. She gave him a sympathetic smile as he tried to stifle another yawn.

"I know" she shrugged, standing back up and resting her hand on his shoulder, facing the screen again.

"I'm guessing the Iced Cream Queen wouldn't mind going to bed either" he chuckled a few minutes later as she lifted a hand to stifle a yawn of her own. Sarah chuckled back at him, but nodded and glanced towards the stairs. Following her gaze he smiled "…Go, I'll be there in a few minutes. I'll just quickly finish checking the message boards." The nerd smiled at her warmly as she started to shift away. His hand hovered over the keyboard for a moment before he pushed it away "…it can wait 'til the morning. Let's go to bed. I've got a few days off anyway, so…" he shrugged.

Sarah stopped a couple of yards away, looking over her shoulder "That's funny, so do I" she replied, a hint of her earlier playful tone returning with a tired chuckle "…perks of being the boss."

The sleepy nerd glanced at her again, warmth in his eyes "Really? What about your kingdom?"

Sarah nodded and gave him a soft smile "…Zondra's in charge until we've dealt with all of this" the blonde's eyed hardened a little as she moved back and pulled him to stand.

Leading them up the stairs to his room, she smiled sleepily and headed for his bathroom again "I'm just going to brush my teeth."

Following her through the door, he reached for the toothpaste and smiled back,

"I have a question."

"About the toothpaste?" she asked, smiling playfully.

He gave Sarah a lop-sided grin as he shook his head no. "…I know Neo tried to hurt your company, but when we were downstairs, you had this look in your eyes, and it sounded like something else was bothering you" he finished with a worried smile.

The tall blonde cringed while she rinsed out her mouth, spitting into the sink "…I suppose there was. Chuck, I'm not the good girl you obviously think I am."

"Oh, I know exactly how much of a bad girl you are" he winked at her suggestively and started brushing his teeth, trying to lighten the mood.

She chuckled back tiredly and placed her hand on his chest, shaking her head at his playful tone "…how do you know me this well?" he winked at her again in the mirror, smiling broadly.

"It's my superpower" he declared, puffing up his chest comically.

"Nerd." She replied with a slow playful shake of her head, he simply nodded back with a proud grin. "Carina's always thought I had a bit of problem being attracted to hero types" her tone quickly became a little more subdued "…it's actually something I normally avoid."

He looked back and breathed out dramatically to deflate his chest, evoking a subtle quirk of her lip.

"Sorry, it's my Dad's fault. HE was my hero..." Sarah smiled sadly, her eyes threatening to tear up. "Just me and him taking on the world. His "job" kept us moving around, going from town to town, never staying long enough to make friends, or put down roots."

He held up his toothbrush tentatively, the gesture silencing her after a couple of breaths. When she nodded at him he finally opened his mouth with slight grin "I hate to say it honey, but you'd be really hard to forget" Chuck tried to placate her, but she shook her head slowly in response, confusing him a little as he went back to brushing his teeth.

"I didn't always look like this, and I really hope no one remembers me, my Dad, or what I looked like back then. I've tried hard to forget about those years, they're just a blur of different towns and faces now. I do remember being happy for a while" she huffed almost pitifully "…he'd always let me stay up as late as I wanted, eat iced cream for breakfast, that kind of thing." Her voice eventually turned flat, obviously fighting her strong emotions "I worked out pretty early on that my father's "work" wasn't legal, and that when we moved town, we were avoiding the cops" The tall hacker briefly frowned "…he made it seem like we were playing a wonderful game though." He gave her a sympathetic smile as her voice cracked "Chuck, my dad was a criminal." she declared simply "…I was raised by a con man, and that's not the worst part" Sarah sighed, her voice quivering "…apparently I was his greatest mark too."

His brow furrowed deeply as he spat into the sink and put down his toothbrush "I'm sure that's not true" taking her hand and leading them both back to his bedroom he asked "I just realised something, you've never once mentioned your mom, where was she?"

"…Sweetie, I haven't seen my Mom since I was really young" she said as she sat down on his bed, patting the sheet beside her and pulling the nerd to sit at her side. After a couple of deep breaths, she leaned into his chest and looked up into his sympathetic eyes "…I barely remember her to be honest. Dad never told me the real reason why she left, one day she was just gone." The blonde's voice began to tremble as she closed her eyes in distress. "I missed her for a while, but we moved town so often and Dad made everything else so much fun that I eventually just stopped thinking about her" Chuck ground his teeth in annoyance, his own parental abandonment, tearing at his chest.

"I've already told you about living with Carina" she began quietly. When he nodded back, she continued "…That was his fault too" she snorted, giving a slight smile, her body trembled a little more as her usually sapphire eyes suddenly turned ice cold. Chuck opened his mouth to speak, but when she locked eyes with him, he understood how serious she was, so he shut it again.

"At first, I was only staying with Carina and her parents on weekends, or when my Dad had to "work." Chuck could almost see the bunny ears gesture in her tone "…One of those weekends, the subject of my family came up. Carina's parents really didn't like my Dad so they got me talking about my mom instead and eventually convinced me to look for her. Things were already rough between Dad and me back then, we barely spoke when he was home, and spending time around Carina's Mom made me a little jealous of their relationship, so the idea sounded great. A couple of days after he got back to town I started asking about her again, I wanted to know everything about my Mom. It'd been a few years since either of us had mentioned her and for some reason it really pissed him off." The blonde seemed to be on autopilot, telling someone else's tale with as little emotion as she could, her eyes told a different story, as they shimmered with emotion "…The fight didn't even take that long, a few minutes of yelling and it all came out, all the lies" he saw the tired blonde's eyes well up again, her voice trembling again. Pulling her even closer, his fingertips stroked her spine reassuringly as he cradled her into his chest. "Nearly every word he told me my entire life was a lie… My mom never left us" she choked out "she had gone to visit my Nanna and he just whisked me out of her life. I did find where my Mom had been staying, but by then, she was gone, cancer" she closed her eyes and sobbed heavily into his chest, her body trembling "…he took my Mom from me."

The beautiful blonde tearfully looked up into his soft caramel eyes, seeing a huge amount of sympathy and warmth along with a spark of anger in his dark, chocolate coloured orbs. Her story had obviously affected the nerd deeply, but the warmth swirling in his eyes filled her heart with love again for this wonderful man "I lived with Carina full time after that. Her family are amazing" she finished with a returning hint of jealousy.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you by asking about this" the hacker said, when her tears slowed. He leaned down a little and kissed her tenderly, the scent of spearmint still strong on both of their breaths.

After a few more seconds, they climbed under the sheets and smiled lovingly at each other "…You know, I've never actually told anyone outside of my closest friends about my Dad" she said, looking at him her lustrous sapphire eyes still showing a deep vulnerability.

Closing his own eyes briefly, the nerd bent down and rested his brow against her forehead "…well thank you for trusting me. I may technically be a criminal but I hope you already know that I'd never hurt anyone, especially you. You already know how much my parents "tried" to screw up mine and Ellie's lives, so I can definitely relate to some of that."

"I know you're nothing like him" she nodded sagely "…and I don't think either of our lives are exactly screwed, I've got a business I love, Ellie's a doctor, and you're a famous reporter" he nodded back with a self-deprecating smile.

"…I did say "tried" he chuckled into her hair, getting the warm smile he hoped for.

Turning her back to him, they shifted closer, the nerd wrapping his arms around her protectively as they fell into a wonderfully deep sleep.

A few hours later, Sarah rubbed her bleary eyes as she stepped into Chuck's kitchen, his back was turned to her and he was humming to a song on the radio "Why are you up so early?" she asked, reaching over and ruffling his curls.

Looking at his watch with a playful grin he replied "Other than to make you breakfast?" giving her a wide smile and flipping the pancakes he was making for them.

"That's sweet, did you sleep much? You still look exhausted" the beautiful blonde stroked his slightly stubble sympathetically.

"I'm OK, I got up to use the bathroom and it hit me. The message board that I first saw Neo bragging about his "work"' the nerd began to speak rapidly "…it's one of the oldest ICQ sites."

Sarah looked over at him, confusion clouding her wonderfully lustrous eyes "Ok. I've never heard of that."

Chuck moved away from the cooker and gave her a hug "I'm not surprised, Facebook and all of those other sites are everywhere these days. Most people have forgotten all about the others that came before."

Slapping his chest playfully, Sarah stepped out of his embrace and grabbed a mug from the nearby counter and pouring some coffee "Hey, I've still got my Myspace account, I don't use it, but it's there" the blonde answered with faux indignation.

The lanky nerd kissed her cheek before holding his hands up dramatically "Sorry, I know you're not "most people", you're my amazing Iced Cream Queen"

Sarah snorted, before kissing him back "…smooth talker. What has all this got to do with Neo?"

He winked at her before replying "The original ICQ system had a major flaw, only the audio and video messages were private, everything else could be read by anyone who had your ID. As a public message board, that's fantastic, but it's terrible for privacy." He shook his head with an excited smile "Everyone on these sites is a hacker, and those guys usually protect themselves fiercely, but what if Neo forgot about ICQ's original vulnerability?" An acrid smell began to waft across from the cooker behind him.

"Sweetie, you've lost me" Sarah put her coffee down and quickly stepped past him, moving the pan off the heat. The lanky hacker stepped past her to open a window and began to wave a nearby cloth over the pan to dissipate the smoke.

"…I'll make some more" the nerd apologised and threw the burnt pancakes into the trash.

"Chuck, get to the point." Sarah admonished and turned off the cooker completely.

Handing her back her coffee, he sat on one of the nearby stools "…ICQ systems record the time and date of each login, as well as the IP address of the user. If he's logged on from the same IP address multiple times from a single location, then we can confidently assume he's staying nearby."

She nodded in response and began reaching into the fridge for some more ingredients.

"What's that?" she asked, a little while later.

The hacker, looked up distractedly "Hmm? Oh this is the NSA's network" he declared as though it was nothing special, her eyebrows immediately raised in shock.

"Chuck, stop. It's not worth getting into that kind of trouble" the beautiful blonde ran both hands through her long hair and looked around the room nervously.

"…how do you think I stopped him the first time?" he admitted, giving a one shoulder shrug, she winced at the thought that he'd already risked so much for her.

Biting her fingernail, she placed her other hand on his shoulder and turned him to face her "You never said anything about messing around with the government."

The hacker turned back and pointed at the screen, running his finger across Neo's file "…I just want to copy this file and I'll get out of here."

"Please Chuck, I can't lose you…" her voice trembled a little.

"You won't." he declared confidently, clicking on the file and saving it, quickly closing the window and his connection.

"It worked" he gasped, getting up and stretching his back, smiling over at her briefly before a worried look flashed on his face "I managed to trace him through the ICQ network and…" he quickly returned his gaze to the glowing screen and closed one of the windows "…we have a couple of hits around town. The first is an internet café on the corner of Hollywood and Highland." The nerd shook his head and looked her in the eye "Neo's too smart to actually have been hacking either Frozen Kingdom, or Carina's bosses while he's sitting drinking a skinny latte."

Sarah chuckled and gave him a worried smile, before stepping over and placing her hand on the back of his neck. "Why not? He sounds cocky enough."

The nerd leaned into her hand, enjoying her warm fingers as they played in his curls "Hmmm, you're probably right. Neo's avoided the authorities for years, so why should he be scared of a random barista? He didn't seem too worried about being caught out by me either, he just told me to stay out of his business." Chuck shrugged.

Sarah nodded back at him, moving her hand away and resting it on his shoulder "Ok, so what about the second one?"

He locked eyes with her and winced "…that one's a little scary, this here" he pointed at a few seemingly random digits as they hovered at the foot of the screen "that was Carina's hotel, the Grand Westin."

"What?" she stood wide eyed in horror, leaning closer to the monitor and trying to understand the jumble of numbers as it started scrolling across the screen "…how do you know?"

He highlighted that part and copied the text into another box, moments later the hotel's website appeared "This is how I know. I didn't want to scare you, so I closed the page when I first found it."

The blonde's eyes widened "So he might have been watching Carina, US, all along?" she wrapped her arms around her chest defensively and stepped away.

Chuck quickly stood up and reached his long arms around her "…it could be the same as the café, just another place that has a lot of random people using the internet." He looked her in the eyes reassuringly before continuing "If it isn't, yeah he could've" the nerd admitted with a wince.

Sarah looked a little spooked still "Is there any way you can check?" she gazed up into his hazel eyes hopefully.

"I could check the hotel's CCTV footage, but that might be another dead end, we don't know what he even looks like." The nerd shrugged and smiled sympathetically.

"Please…" she pleaded, a haunted look flashing across her beautiful features.

"…OK, let's do this" he winked at her, stepping back to his computer and cracking his knuckles.

A/N2 – I hope you're all still with me. This was a bit heavier than most of the earlier chapters but I had to get Sarah's sad story out, as well as show how Chuck was going to find Neo. It's taken me a while to get here. Stay safe and take care my friends.