Chuck Versus the Christmas Caper

By Steampunk . Chuckster

Summary: New Christmas traditions bring Chuck, Ellie, and Devon to the small beach resort of Capitola, California for a three week vacation. But his holiday plans for fun under the Northern California sun don't play out the way Chuck expects them to when other vacationers staying in the beachfront hotel start raising his suspicions. Can he maintain a new friendship with a fascinating and beautiful neighbor while getting to the bottom of this Christmas caper?

A/N: Thank you for reading and leaving reviews.

Disclaimer: I do not own Chuck and I'm not making any money by writing and posting this fic.

"Okay, Chuck, I'm listening."

"You're not listening. You're tap tap tapping away on your phone."

Ellie rolled her eyes to look at him. "Chuck, it's about my work."

"I thought we were on vacation from that."

She was about to argue with him but she stopped herself then and narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. "That's a fair point. Fine. Phone down." And she tossed it face down onto the coffee table. "I'm listening, I promise."

"Thank you." He flattened the paper he'd been working with between them on the couch cushion. "There's a girl who looks maybe nineteen. I've only seen her outside twice now. Once, it seemed like they didn't want her to be out, and they were really nasty about her phone when she looked like she was going to record something. And the other time, it was early early in the morning and they looked surprised I was out, like they thought it was early enough that nobody would see them."

"Them?"

"The bad guys holding her captive."

Ellie blinked once. Slowly. "Bad guys…holding her captive. Hold on. Are you saying someone's being held captive…at the the Capitola Venetian Hotel? Against her will?"

"Yes."

"If they were holding her captive, Chuck, why does she get to step outside in the first place? Shouldn't she be tied up with rope to a chair and have a gag in case she tries to scream? And shouldn't they be in some warehouse somewhere instead of in a hotel room?"

Chuck groaned. "Ellie, come on. You watch too many movies. This isn't Hollywood."

Her jaw fell open.

"Anyway, I've made a chart. So far I've got the captive here. Purple. Still don't know which room they have her in, or if they've got multiple rooms here. Or a big ol' suite or something." He pointed to the next name. "Mr. Tattoo Sleeves, I see him more than the other bad guys, so I think maybe he's some kind of ringleader."

"Mr. Tattoo Sleeves?"

"Then there's Tank Girl. I haven't seen her with Purple just the two of them, only with other people, and then I saw her getting a coffee alone earlier today. She looks like she can kick some major ass and she's got this, like…grumpy scowl."

"Could be because you're calling her Tank Girl."

"Hey, Tank Girl is a cool nickname. Anyway, she's a criminal so I don't care what she thinks about her nickname. They're all lucky their names aren't Criminal One, Two, and Three." Ellie snorted. "This is Vincent Price."

"Is he a vampire?"

"Ellie, be serious for a second."

"Sorry."

"He's got the pointy beard—Doesn't matter, though. This is the latest addition. I saw him with Vincent Price earlier standing out by the wall beyond which is the beach." He sketched the wall on his little diagram poorly, then used his pen to make a bunch of dots in the space past it. "That's…sand."

"Yeah, I figured."

"Kay, our latest addition to Team Bad Guys is Burglar."

"Burglar? Was he trying to steal something?"

"He just kinda reminds me of those slick cat burglars from those 'sixties movies. Like Pink Panther. Ooooo! Scratch that. I'm calling him Pink Panther now instead of Burglar. That's way cooler." He scratched out Burglar and scribbled "Pink Panther".

"I'm glad you made that change. Very important," Ellie mumbled, peering down at the paper between them.

He ignored her completely, inwardly rolling his eyes. "So I told you about the weird phone situation where Purple tried to take a photo, Mr. Tattoo Sleeves came out and yanked it away, admonished her or something, then pocketed the phone. Then they acted really rigid and weird when I spotted them outside and Purple was vaping. Early in the morning when I was running. Or, wait, that was maybe after I saw Tank Girl and Mr. Tattoo Sleeves in a heated argument. They were disagreeing about something. Maybe Tank Girl was trying to advocate for a little more freedom to move around for their captive and that's why Purple was let out to vape. And Mr. Tattoo Sleeves wants Purple locked up in a room at all times. He has a point, I saw them the other morning and they were really shocked to see me. It almost felt like Vincent Price was looking at Purple, like…she better not say anything to this super fit guy who's out jogging!"

Ellie snorted.

"Hey. I'm fitter than I was."

She patted him on the arm placatingly and he was definitely not telling her about how he collapsed from dehydration during his second run with Sarah yesterday morning.

He wasn't giving her that kind of fodder.

"Okay, so Chuck. You have your notes, your diagram of the hotel and where you saw each of these people, your nicknames for everyone. And you have your theory…"

"Yep."

"What do you plan on doing with all of this? Because if you go to the police, they will laugh at you." He frowned, realizing he really…had no end game here. He hadn't thought of what he might do if he got indisputable proof.

"I know," he said. "I dunno. Just keep gathering as much info as I can, and then I can go to the police and they can laugh at me if they want, but if my proof is…proofy enough…they'll have to at least check the situation out, right?"

"What if you're just invading the privacy of people who are on vacation for the holidays just like we are? And all of this has a perfectly logical explanation?"

"I've thought of that, El. If I keep digging and nothing turns up, then, oh well, maybe I'm wrong about all of this. But what if I'm not wrong. What if she is being held against her own will? I don't know why yet, I don't want to speculate too much until I get some more data." Ellie smirked at that. "But what if there's a reason why they've picked her in particular? What if I can find that out and help her, Ellie?"

"What if you've watched too much TV over the years and I unwittingly fostered that because sitting you at the TV was easier than hearing you ask five gazillion questions while I was trying to do my homework?" she shot back.

"Wow. Harsh, big sister. Harsh," he teased.

She got up and leaned down to kiss him on the head. "I'm teasing and I love you. Look, if you insist on wasting your vacation on this, I'm not stopping you. Just do me a favor, huh?" His sister turned to face him as she slowly backed towards her bedroom. He nodded. "Please, please don't do anything creepy. And don't get arrested. Okay?"

Chuck nodded enthusiastically. "You got it. Don't get arrested. Don't be creepy. Done."

And then he thought about Sarah's signal they decided she would use if she thought he was being creepy and he smiled harder, picturing her with both of her middle fingers up, her eyebrows raised and her lips pursed, amusement spilling through her pretty features.

He heard Ellie run the bathtub in the main bathroom in her room, so he raised his voice. "Hey, El?"

"Yeah?" she called back out.

"I'm going exploring."

"Or are you doing more investigating, Sherlock?"

He made a face even though he knew she couldn't see it. "Fine. I'm doing more investigating."

"Okay, have fun, don't do anything illegal!"

Chuck snorted, grabbing his wallet, phone, and keys, tugging a thick sweater on over his T-shirt, and stepping out of the suite, shutting it securely behind him and trotting down the stairs to the pavement.

Where did he begin?

He decided the lobby was a good enough place to start, and he stuck his hands in his pockets, making his way towards the front, away from the water.

}o{

She spotted Jamison at the desk, on the phone speaking with one of the guests most likely, so she slowed her step a little, timing it just right so that she reached the front desk right as he hung up. He went pink when he looked up to see her there.

"Ah. Good afternoon, Miss. Enjoying your stay so far?"

"It's perfect, thank you."

"Good. Can I help you with anything?" he asked.

"Um. Yeah, I-I guess I'm wondering if there's a bookstore or a library maybe close by?"

He seemed surprised and she inwardly gave him a flat look for it. "Oh of course. I know just the one. Only a twenty minute walk. And you can take a scenic route. Here." He grabbed a map and unfolded it, taking his red pen and making a line along a street that moved parallel to the shoreline. "You have to walk through a residential area sorta, and there aren't sidewalks, but it's still a nice walk. Very pretty. And it's a small bookstore, but they have a fantastic selection and their employees can find you whatever you need on their shelves."

Sarah smiled up at him. "I hope they give you perks over there for being such a good marketing director for them."

The concierge blushed vibrantly. "Well. I, uh, know one of the owners."

"I'll have to check this place out. Thank you," she said. And she took the map with a wave, leaving the desk behind. That was when she spotted him.

Sitting near the fireplace, crouched over in the large, red plush chair, scribbling furiously in a notebook with a pen that had a Christmas tree topper on it. He had a cup of coffee carefully trapped between his thighs too. But the strangest part wasn't the pen topper, it was the fact that he wasn't even looking at what he was writing.

Instead, he was staring at something straight ahead, his jaw clenched, eyes hard, observing. Sarah inched closer, raising an eyebrow in curiosity. And then she tried to follow his gaze. Two men were outside. She could see them through the sliding glass doors. One of them was drinking his iced coffee through a straw, the other one eating a breakfast sandwich, and they were just chatting.

Sarah glanced back at Chuck. "Hey, Chuck."

He jumped a little, blinked, and spun to look up at her. A massive grin burst onto his face, his nose wrinkling, his eyes lighting up. And the gloominess that settled in the overcast sky outside and reflected her own mood today seemed like it was a little less of a factor suddenly.

"Hi! Sarah! Hey!" He almost got up but she pointed to the coffee still clenched between his legs and he winced, snagging it safely and giving her a grateful look before he stood. "Uh, thanks."

"You're welcome. What are you doing?" Maybe she could've eased into that a little more, because he blinked again, just once, apparently having not expected it. "Sorry. You're just…taking furious notes and I saw you looking over there." She raised her hand to point, but he pounced, his hand gently closing over hers and lowering it to her side. She couldn't help noticing he kept it there, his fingers closed around her palm. His hand was nice and warm. But then he noticed and cleared his throat, letting go of her and running an awkward hand now the front of his sweater.

"Um. Sorry. I was just…staring at people and I didn't want them to know."

"Oh." She made an oops face. "Sorry. Not exactly subtle, was I?"

"No apology necessary. Um, I'm not a creeper. Or anything. Just…in case you thought… I'm not a stalker. Or a weirdo. Well…I'm kind of a weirdo but not in that way." He made a self-deprecating wince look really cute, she decided, and then he smiled slowly.

She giggled quietly and turned to look back out the doors. The men he seemed to be watching were gone. "Oh. They left…"

Chuck turned his head so quick she could almost hear the snap of his neck. "Crap. Oh man." And then he took off.

"Wh—Um, okay?" She shook her head and followed after him. She couldn't help it. She wanted to know what in the hell he was up to, here. It really felt…weird. But then she realized he'd left the notebook he'd been writing in just sitting on the chair he'd just occupied, so she doubled back and snatched it and the pen, before hurrying after him again.

She found him outside, glancing to and fro, his coffee clutched in one hand, and then he turned to look at her. "You see which way they went?"

"Uhhh…maybe this way. Left. They were looking in this direction last I saw them. So I guess I'm kind of assuming."

"That's a good instinct," he praised her, a serious tilt to his eyebrows, and then he turned and walked in that direction.

She still followed him, her brow furrowed. "You left your notebook on your chair."

"Aw, fu—" He spun with a miserable look on his face but she'd thrusted the notebook and pen up between them and the miserable look cleared, and it was replaced instead with embarrassment and gratefulness. "You're freaking amazing. Thank you. I appreciate it."

Sarah tried not to let how good that genuine praise from him felt get too deep under her skin. But it was hard. It had felt so good.

He took the notebook and pen from her and kept walking. "A'right, I gotta put myself in their shoes. Where would they have gone?"

"Hey, why are you following these dudes? Did they…take something from you or…bother your sister or something?"

"What? Oh no. No, they—Oh." He must've realized how he was acting in front of her and he stopped walking, wincing. He glanced off to the side and let out a sigh, blowing a raspberry and lifting his arms in a shrug that signaled giving up. "Forget it. I'm not gonna find 'em. I'm terrible at this."

What?

"Terrible at what? What is going on?" She grabbed his arm and forced him to turn towards her.

He took a long breath and let his head fall back, blinking up at the sky. And then he groaned. When he lowered his head again, he looked almost tentative. "Okay, but you have to listen to the whole thing before you judge."

Sarah raised her eyebrows. What was he getting up to? "Okay…"

He took yet another deep breath, looked around them, then gently cupped her elbow in a large hand and pulled her off to the side, off of the path, glancing around again, as if making sure they were alone and nobody was listening in.

She felt a stab of suspicion go through her suddenly when a seriousness she hadn't seen in him before came over his features. Please no. She couldn't do this. If this was all some sort of set-up, if Director Graham had sent another spy to follow her, intercept her, lie to her, befriend her, get her to lower her guard… Chuck couldn't be. He couldn't be.

"Chuck, whatever it is, just tell me. Don't lie to me."

He looked confused at that. "Lie to you?" She looked at him expectantly. "I'm just gonna give it to you plain and simple." He met her gaze and she held her breath. "I think someone staying at this hotel has been kidnapped."

All of Sarah's suspicions dropped to the cement at her feet and shattered into a million pieces. This was…not what she was expecting. At all. In fact, she was kind of…speechless. She pulled her lips back between her teeth and tilted her head. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Yeah." He nodded seriously. "Unbelievable, I know. But I think there's a girl in one of these rooms who's been kidnapped, and bad guys are holding her hostage. Maybe for a ransom or something? I don't know what it is exactly yet. But these people are really fishy, Sarah."

She couldn't have stopped the giggle from bubbling out between her lips if she tried. It was part relief, part amusement. Graham definitely hadn't sent this man. He had no connections to the CIA. But also… What in the hell was he talking about?

Chuck frowned. "That was what my sister said, too."

"I'm sorry!" she rushed out, grabbing his bicep. "No, I'm—I didn't mean to laugh. I'm not laughing at you. I just wasn't expecting that so my surprise came out as a laugh." Sarah winced apologetically.

Snorting, he shrugged and brushed his hand through the air dismissively. "Nah, it's okay. I get the laughter. It sounds ridiculous. And I know that. But I have this feeling in my gut. These guys, they're—I dunno, Sarah, I can't describe it. Something feels wrong. Off."

She pursed her lips.

He was sincere about this, she could tell. But then again, this guy so far seemed like he was sincere more often than he wasn't. And it wasn't even close. Maybe that was part of the reason why she liked being around him.

"Okay," she said. "You tell me why you think someone's been kidnapped."

Agent Sarah Walker watched the man as he went through all the details of his suspicions. The things he'd seen. What he'd heard. What he'd inferred from all of it. The attempted recording, the way the…tattoo guy snatched the girl's phone. The friction and nerves between all of them, how tense and awkward Vincent…Price was it? How awkward and tense that meeting in the early morning had been.

Something occurred to her after he told her about the girl he thought was being kidnapped vaping with the pointy-bearded guy, how they'd looked at him, the former like she wanted to say something to him, the latter like he was waiting for her to cry for help. "When you sprinted around the corner that morning, before we went for a run together…"

Chuck winced. "Yeah, that isn't how I finish my runs. I hate—hate—sprints. I hate sprints. My body wasn't made for sprinting." He gestured to his lanky form and gave her his lamest crooked smile, making her pout a little at him. "I wasn't sure if the guy would chase me or something so when I got around the corner, I ran like a bat outta hell."

Sarah giggled and shook her head. This whole thing was truly silly and she liked him that much more for it. "Chuck…"

"It's all super fishy. Nobody else has witnessed it, they've only ever heard me talk about it. But you saw those two guys. They looked super suspicious, right? Standing out there…"

"Yeah. Drinking coffee…eating breakfast at like four in the afternoon…"

He gave her a flat look.

"Sorry," she hissed with a wince. "I'm listening still. I promise."Chuck sighed and shrugged. "Eh, forget it. I hear how crazy I sound and I get it." He seemed a bit embarrassed, but not exactly put-out, as he stuck his hands in his pockets, a kindness in his handsome face as he sent her a small understanding smile. "Hey, do you think you'd be up for a little exploration around the hotel grounds, or maybe we might wander a little further down the road?" He gasped, and the teasing shock became a slow, crooked smile that showed his teeth. "Maybe this time we can walk."

She laughed. "Maybe that's for the best."

She was maybe surprised that he'd brought that up again, figuring they would just pretend it never happened every time they saw one another now, to protect him from his own embarrassment. But his self-deprecating nature reared its head again, keeping her on her toes.

"So, um… How's your vacation going?" he asked as they turned and began strolling along the path again. Going where, exactly, she didn't know. Nor did she really care. She found she was just glad not to be alone, and particularly to be with him instead of alone.

Sarah felt a shrug lift her shoulders as she hugged herself, the temperature having dropped to the low sixties without the sun coming out today. "Pretty good. Chill."

"As a vacation should be."

She smirked. "Well, what about you? How's your vacation? Please don't tell me taking notes and following those guys is all you're doing with your time here?"

"No, no," Chuck rushed, holding up a hand. "No, it isn't. I'm doing lots of fun stuff. And, uh, and you? How are you keeping busy?"

She smirked, unsure of why that question and the way he'd asked it had hit her as particularly amusing. "Uhhh…" The smirk turned into a grin. "TV mostly. Sitting out by the water. Eating good food. Reading."

"They don't get a lot of great channels on their TVs here."

"Really? I've been okay with it."

"They don't get anything sports-wise besides ESPN and lemme tell you, Awesome was heated about it last night. He couldn't watch the UCLA versus USC football game on the TV and I really wish you'd seen it. Musclebound ex-football player hunched over his tiny smartphone watching the game on the tiny screen and going, 'Tha's whatahm tahmbout!'" Chuck pumped his fists over his head, the notebook still clutched in his hand. He'd since stashed the foolish looking pen in his back pocket and now had a neon Christmas tree popping out over his ass.

Again. Cute.

Sarah laughed. "Sucks for him, sure, but it sounds like it made for great entertainment for you and your sister."

He snorted. "Got that right. Ellie has been trying to tear through a stack of books she brought on the trip to read for fun. For once. And she was getting miffed about how much louder Captain Awesome is when he is watching football on a phone instead of on the TV."

"Louder?" she giggled. "Why did watching on the phone make him louder?"

"I dunno." He shrugged. "Smaller screen, bigger celebration?"

Laughing, she shook her head and then veered towards the left, around towards the street. He followed after her, stepping up to walk shoulder to shoulder with her. "I envy your sister, getting to bring a whole pile of books. I couldn't do that."

Chuck narrowed his eyes thoughtfully, and then he snapped his fingers at her and pointed. "A-ha! You couldn't bring a whole pile of books because you didn't drive here for vacation the way we did, and that's because you flew. On a plane."

Sarah groaned and it turned into a chuckle. "Give it uuuuup."

"I can't. I'm sorry."

"Sure you can't." She smirked. "Anyway, your sister's a reader, huh?"

"Oh yeah, she loves it."

She went a little quiet then, her thoughts surging back fifteen years to a time when things weren't necessarily better or worse; she just hadn't known enough about life, about how existence was supposed to be for a kid her age. "I don't get to read as much as I used to love to," she said softly, without really even meaning to.

Chuck didn't say anything for a bit, and then he glanced at her. She could feel his gaze on the side of her face, and she felt warmth rise from the collar of her jacket. When he finally did speak, his voice was just as soft as hers. "Fast-paced life, huh?" She sent him a wan smile and he nodded. "It makes sense you were one of those little nerdy kids who always had a book with you in every situation."

Sarah cracked up, his teasing breaking that tension that had settled in her bones. "Wow, reading between the lines there, aren't you? I never said I was a little nerdy kid, okay?" He gave her a dubious look and she crossed her arms, rolling her eyes. "Fine. Maybe I was."

The kind of little nerdy kid who had her rented violin stolen for three whole days when she was fourteen and only had it returned when the principal got involved. And when the kid who stole it ended up being suspended, and a lengthy suspension at that, her locker was tagged with SNITCH and JENNY BLEW PRINCIPAL JENKINS FOR HER VIOLIN BACK.

It was one reason why she quit orchestra and reverted back to books, returning the violin to the shop and never bringing anything expensive to school again. "I was bookish, I guess," she added.

"Listen, don't be ashamed. At least you weren't reading comic books. It got so bad in high school, me and Morgan—" She sent him a questioning look without meaning to. "That's my best bud, Morgan. He and I would take comics to school to trade or talk about them, and it only took for us each to lose really important comics we paid more than normal for…We stopped taking that stuff to school after that. Kids are such assholes."

"They're such fucking assholes," she agreed vehemently, making him give her a wide-eyed look, laughing. "Sorry. I just… I get it. On so many levels." She bit her lip, feeling a bit of nerves prickling at her fingertips, and her toes. She knew it wasn't the wintery beach cold that was making her feel slightly numb. It was what she was about to do, what she was about to say.

"I, um, went to the gift shop to see about their book selection, actually," she said, diverting her gaze. "I got one when I first got here but I finished it."

"Oh dang. A whole book on vacation? How many days was that?"

"I dunno, threeish?"

"What?!" His jaw dropped. "You're kidding!"

"Nope."

Chuck slow clapped and she giggled, shaking her head. "I'm impressed."

"It wasn't exactly the most thought-provoking book. One of those mass market mystery rags. And it's not like I had a lot of other stuff I was doing, either. So I just sat on the beach and read. Or on my balcony." She shrugged. "But that's really the only kind of thing the gift shop has as far as books go and it kind of sucks."

"Ah, yeah. They don't even have comic books." She gave him a side eye and a smirk and he laughed. "Okay, message received. I'll stop harping on the comic books. I was trying to make you smile."

Sarah pursed her lips and twisted them to the side, aware that this shyness was a new thing. Very new. Brand new. She enjoyed how easy he made kindness sound, when she knew it was a lot harder for other people. And the fact that he directed it at her. That was pretty nice, too.

"Well, you succeeded. And as big of a nerd as you are for your comic book thing, Chuck, you're allowed to do the comic book thing in my presence. It doesn't bother me." It was actively cute, if she were honest with herself. She decided not to say that out loud, though.

"Thank you," he said. "That's kind of you."

"If this town had a library, though, I'd totally get lost in it." So she guessed she was just gonna keep going with this then? Jesus.

"Oh yeah? Big library fan?"

"Absolutely. Ever since I was a kid."

"Makes sense. Books, libraries, et cetera."

She snorted and hugged herself tightly. Was it the cold or was she letting him have too much? Either way, she was about to let him have more. "There was a library a block away from where I lived when I was a kid. It was so huge, multiple floors, and there were steps that led up to the front doors, but then it had these massive, like, Roman columns in the front too. Kinda bizarre," she added with a one syllable giggle. "But I went there all the time."

She'd gotten herself a library card by forging her dad's signature, something he taught her how to do at a young age. Ridiculous, really. And they'd only been there for maybe ten months or so before he'd done something to force them to jump in the car and run. To this day, she still didn't know what. The feds hadn't caught up to him until years later, so she didn't think that was what had gotten him nabbed. It was one of the other cons he'd pulled, no doubt. The numerous cons. Too many to count.

"It-It was kind of like a, um, refuge. You know?" And a babysitter. Even if the library employees and librarians hadn't realized it at the time, they and the books and stacks around them had been the ten/eleven year old's babysitter.

Chuck seemed content to just listen quietly, watching her. But she didn't meet his gaze. She kept looking forward, putting her most unbothered mask on over everything she was feeling, the emotions all of this was drumming up.

"I'd spend my whole day in there, combing through books, find classics and new stuff. Nobody was there to tell me the things I wasn't allowed to read so I read whatever the hell I wanted."

He snickered, shaking his finger. "Ooooo. Heheheh. That's awesome. See? Supervision is overrated."

Sarah cracked up. "I love that that's your takeaway." He shrugged with a toothy grin. "I remember how it smelled. Like…oh, what's the lemon scented stuff you use to dust?"

"Pledge?"

"Yes! That!" She giggled. "It smelled like Pledge, but then it also smelled like old paper, old book smell, and then a tinge of dust too. I can still smell it if I really try. The best smell."

"Dust and old paper sounds like it should smell awful, but yeah, I kinda get how that'd be comforting. Weird how that works."

"Isn't it?" She smiled at him and he smiled back. That hadn't been so bad, sharing that small anecdote. It hadn't been bad at all. He wasn't going to use this information and sell it to the Russians. He wasn't going to give this to Ryker or to Graham or the NSA or anyone else. And if he did, what could they even do with it?

So she kept going.

"That library meant a lot to me."

"You feel like it kinda raised you, huh?"

"Oh God yeah. Exactly." He was quiet and thoughtful for a few comfortable moments, and then he nodded a little. "What?" she asked. "Did you have a place like that?" He winced and she chuckled, bumping his shoulder with hers. "Oh come on. Tell me."

"There was this arcade Morgan and I rode our bikes to."

"An arcade!" She laughed. "That's very on brand. But I'm not making fun of you, I promise. That's really sweet."

"It wasn't that sweet. We murdered lots of bad guys and aliens in Area 51 and shit." He faked holding a rifle and made cute gun sounds.

"Okay, maybe sweet isn't the right word for that."

They laughed together.

"No, I get having a place where you could push all the other crap out of your brain and just focus on something else. Point your mind and whatever else in a different direction that doesn't…"

Hurt?

"Hurt," he said quietly.

Sarah raised her eyebrows, her feet nearly tripping her up as she spun to look at him.

"What?" he asked, stopping as well and turning to face her.

"Um. …Nothing. No, it, um…nothing. That was just… I mean, yeah. Same." Had he freaking read her mind right there or what?

It only took her a moment of groveling in her own difficult memories for her to realize that he'd said that as if he'd had hurt of his own. She'd maybe had a cumulative four hours of talking to this guy over the last couple of days, but she felt something happening in her chest as she subtly glanced up at him, studying his profile. What had he had to hide in an arcade for when he was a kid? Was it anything like why she'd hidden in the stacks of the library instead of sitting in a shoddy apartment with a grainy TV and no actual table to do her homework on? She did her homework on the same couch that she slept on during those ten months.

She couldn't imagine Chuck had the same childhood she had. Not everyone had a conman for a dad. In fact, she imagined few kids did. And apparently Chuck had a sister through all of that, something she hadn't had.

"That library sounds nice," he said, interrupting her thoughts. "Have you been back as an adult?"

Sarah was surprised by the question. She shook her head slowly. "No. Not since I was a kid." She rushed on before he could ask more about it. "How 'bout you and your arcade?"

"Oh yeah. I never moved too far away from it and it's still open. I spent a lot of time there as a kid and I still do. Morgan and I hit it up when we both have time off. Play a little air hockey." He slid smoothly to his right, away from her, and hunched forward to mimic hitting the puck, even making the hollow plock plock sounds as he did it.

"Are you two the only adults in the arcade?" she teased.

"Excuuuuse me. No we are not," Chuck said with a laugh, giving her an offended look. "Plenty of adults do the arcade thing. There are whole arcade experiences built around playing games and drinking alcohol. Have you never been to a barcade?"

"A…what now?"

"A barcade. Oh, Sarah. Sarah, Sarah, Sarah. You're missing out. You're missing out! The barcade experience is unrivaled."

"Barcade?" She laughed, rocking forward. "That can't be a real thing."

"It is! I swear! Pinky swear." He stuck his pinky out towards her. "You can get super drunk and play pinball all in the same place."

Pinky swear? This man…

And still, she twisted her pinky around his and chuckled. "Okay, I believe you. Maybe games might be more tolerable if I was drunk." "Whooooaaaa, okay. No faith in the games." He tsked and shook his head. "That's just because you haven't played with me and the Morgster. We're the most fun to play with. Trust."

She thought he probably was right about that. If Morgster was anything like Chuck, Sarah imagined doing just about anything with them had to be pretty fun.

"It's not my thing…"

"Not yet," he said, lifting his pointer finger and wiggling his eyebrows. Dork.

But somehow, they'd rounded the hotel's premises and were back to where their rooms were, standing in the middle, apparently neither of them having noticed until right at the same moment, turning towards one another with wide eyes.

"Well…" he mumbled. "Home again, huh?"

She shrugged shyly.

"You wanna go find something to eat with me tonight?" She raised her eyes to meet his gaze, knocked back on her ass by him again. "Maybe out yonder in the unknown that lies beyond our city's walls?"

That was so cute and dramatic, but then she glanced at her watch and realized sunset was coming. And apparently this place would be lit up like it was…well, like it was Christmas. She couldn't stomach that right now. She wasn't in the right place, in the right frame of mind.

"I, um, I'm…tired. I think I'll just get some room service and stay in tonight." She licked her lips, switching her weight, feeling bad when he pressed his lips together and smiled, nodding. "But some other time?"

"Absolutely." He smiled harder. "Definitely. You, uh, you know where I live so…heh." Chuck took a step back towards his suite. "Have a good night, Sarah. And, um, thanks for the chat. Again. And the walk."

"Sure. Yeah. No, thank you." She bit the inside of her cheek. "Hey, um…be careful out there with those…bad guys," she said, lowering her voice. "And let me know if there are any developments, huh? You know where I live, too."

Had she just invited him to knock on her door whenever he wanted to? She guessed she had. He looked a little surprised by it too, and unlike her, he wasn't trained to hide it with a mask.

"Okay. Yeah. I'll let you know if anything else happens." He paused. "Really? You sure?" He looked almost weirded out that she'd asked him for updates.

But honestly? However dead those ends were he was pursuing, however weird his whole kidnapping story sounded, she was intrigued. She was fascinated. She wanted to hear more about his adventures, slinking around the hotel grounds, taking notes on the things he was seeing.

"Yeah." She nodded. "Really."

Chuck shrugged as if saying Good luck lady. "A'right. I'll let you know of any developments in my case." He held up an invisible magnifying glass and squinted his other eye as he looked through it.

She laughed and shook her head, stopping at the bottom of her stairs. "Night, Chuck."

"Night, Sarah." With one last nod in her direction, he turned on his heel and trotted up his stairs, sending her a wave and swiping himself into his suite.

Sarah bit her lip and slowly walked up the steps in front of her door, pausing just long enough to take a deep breath, roll her eyes at herself, and duck into her room, shutting it and locking it behind her.

}o{

The cards in front of him were picked up by the sea breeze and thrown against the sliding glass door that led back inside from the balcony with a few swish flap swishes.

"Nooo! Damn it!"

"Aw man! Bro, you gotta be faster with that."

"I know, I know. My reflexes weren't on their game." He moved to kneel on the wooden balcony, scooping up the cards.

The door slid open and he looked up to find Ellie leaning her shoulder against the doorframe, her arms crossed at her chest. "You realize you're playing cards on a balcony at the beach, right, guys? I mean… you could play right here," she gestured at the table inside, "and not keep getting your game ruined by the breeze but still enjoy the outside air wafting in…"

"That ruins the fun," Awesome argued, thrusting his hand out. "This is part of the challenge."

"Yeah, El, it's part of the challenge," Chuck agreed, moving to sit back down at the table and gather up all of the cards on the table. "Sorry, man. That was my bad. Let's start over."

"Wait." Ellie gave them her best what the fuck look. "You're starting the whole game over?"

"Yep. Chuck didn't catch his cards in time, whole game's ruined, we gotta start over."

"I don't understand what the point of this is." She shook her head at them.

"Reflexes."

"We're testing out our reflexes."

Both men spoke at the same time. Chuck spun around to face Devon, but the blonde blurted it before he could. "Jinx, you owe me a Coke!"

Chuck groaned and tilted his head back, letting the bit of sun that came out this afternoon grace his face. "Okay fine, but not until after we do this. I'm in the zone."

"Pfft. Come on. Of course we're finishing this first." Awesome turned to his girlfriend. "Can you believe this guy? We aren't letting a breeze stop this game, and we're not letting a Jinx You Owe Me A Coke stop it either."

"Yes! That's what I'm talkin' 'bout!" They high fived over the table. "Here, you deal this time."

"Gladly, bro."

He slapped the deck into Awesome's palm and watched as the older man began to deal, ready for any breeze that tried to throw them off again.

"Chuck, I meant to ask you," he heard his sister say. He devoted about half of his attention to her even as he watched and waited for that dastardly breeze. "Weren't you going to go into town to see the Christmas lights and stuff last night? Not that I didn't enjoy having you join us for dinner, especially since it ended up being free for me…" She ruffled his hair and he knew she was only a little miffed he stole the check to pay by pretending he was going to the bathroom.

"It was the least I could do, sis."

"Yeah, well…" she drawled flatly. "My question remains."

Chuck had been prepared to go exploring in town by himself, maybe grab a taco or five from the taqueria they went to the night before, and let Ellie and Devon have a romantic dinner just the two of them, but then he'd had that really good walk around the hotel grounds with Sarah, again…just talking, and he'd learned more about her, more about what made her tick. He'd told her about Purple and her potential kidnappers. And then he'd let himself think about how much more fun exploring the town with all the lights up and soaking in that small beach town Christmas spirit would be if he didn't do it alone, if instead he did it with Sarah.

It was kind of jarring when she'd opted to stay in her room and get room service for dinner, effectively shutting him out and off in a lot of ways. He didn't blame her for it, and he wasn't taking it personally. Something in the way she said she was tired and was staying in for the night made him think it wasn't about him. Maybe she actually was tired. Maybe she just didn't feel like going out and doing stuff. That said, it sort of made him not really want to explore on his own, it dimmed the lustre of the outing, and instead, he asked Ellie and Devon if they'd mind a third for dinner.

Of course, they'd been happy to have him join them for dinner. Genuinely.

But Ellie was giving him a particular look now.

"I was thinking about going out last night and seeing the lights and I guess I just got a little tired and the idea of walking around a bunch just sounded exhausting." He shrugged. She just stared at him, that look still on her face. "God damn it," he groused. "I asked Sarah if she wanted to go with me and she said she was tired and wanted to stay in and get room service, so I got…" He made an annoyed sound, not knowing how to finish that.

"Did you get it all stuck in your head that you might be seeing the sights with her and then when you weren't seeing the sights with her you decided you didn't want to see the sights after all?" Awesome asked. Chuck turned to look at him, his jaw practically falling into his lap. The blonde had his chin propped in his palm. "Awwwww. Broooo. That's so sweeeeet."

"I'm trying to decide if I should hit you or not. Strike that, I'm wondering if I could hit you without breaking my hand."

"Probably not," Awesome said. "But I'm being sincere, Chuckster!" He reached over the table and thumped Chuck on the shoulder, squeezing supportively. "That's sweet! I totally get it. If I ask Ellie if she wants to join me in the tub and she says no, the idea of taking a bath by myself sounds crappy suddenly and I take a shower instead."

"Jesus Christ, Devon."

"Oh my Godddd whyyyyyyyyyy?!"

Chuck fell forward, his head thumping against the table in misery.

"What?! It's a good comparison!"

"It's terrible and it ruined my life," Chuck droned, his forehead still pressed against the table top. When he finally sat up, one of the cards was stuck to his forehead.

Ellie and Devon just stared at him for a few moments and then Ellie reached over to gently remove it. She smirked as she looked down at it, then she turned it for him to see. It was the ace of hearts. "Aces, Charles."

Chuck couldn't stop himself from grinning at his sister for that.

"D'you feel bad about last night?" she asked then, putting the card back on the table and squeezing his shoulder. "I'm sure it wasn't a personal thing, I mean I'm sure it wasn't about you. She probably was tired. People get tired."

He nodded. "Yeah, I know. I don't feel that bad. I'm fine."

"She didn't totally brush you off, though, right?" Awesome asked, dealing the cards again.

"Nah, not at all. I'm gonna see her again. Don't!" he warned Ellie, pointing at her when a grin exploded on her face. She schooled her features and clamped her lips between her fingers, widening her eyes, properly chastised. "This isn't like that. She's really nice to talk to. I'm on vacation, guys, okay? When it's over, I'm going home. It's chill. She's a nice person for me to talk to while I'm here so that I'm not constantly tagging along with you two and you can actually have quality time just the two of you."

"Aw, but I like this quality time I'm getting with you, Chuck," Awesome said.

"You two are so cute—gah, shit! Why are you idiots doing this?!" Ellie snapped, scrambling to collect the cards from where a gust blew them off the table before either of the men could stop it.

"It's fun!" Chuck chirped.

"How?! How is this fun?!"

She slapped the cards back onto the table in frustration. Both men looked at each other, then back at her. "It just is," they both said at the same time.

"Jinx, you owe me a Coke!" Awesome exclaimed again.

"Shit."

"Two Cokes, bro. Heh."

"Okay, I can't with this weirdness. I'm out of here. You two enjoy your quality ti—" Another gust swept through and Ellie acted faster than the both of them, slapping her hands down over the cards.

"Nice, El!"

"Heeeeey, sis, look at you with your reflexes!"

She rolled her eyes. "I'm going to the bar, lemme know when you two are done with…this. Whatever the hell it is."

"Kay."

"Bye, Ellie, enjoy your drink," Chuck said, taking over for her as she removed her hands from the cards. He watched his sister go after she ruffled his hair and left the balcony. He wondered how much she'd seen on his face when he pretended he wasn't put out at all last night. Because he knew he shouldn't be and he still kinda was.

Shrugging it off, he began to deal the cards again, waiting for that next breeze to come wafting through.

}o{

She stared at the options behind the see-through grocery fridge door. They didn't really have any fancy cheese options. No brie or bleu. She'd have to stick to cheddar. Or she could actually venture out to a corner market somewhere and get her cheese from them. She looked down at the green apple in her hand, then back up at the cheeses tiredly.

She'd slept like crap the night before, skipped a run this morning, and instead just stayed in bed like a lump, not even eating breakfast until close to eleven, finally snagging coffee and a muffin from the café behind the hotel.

Was it her overactive brain, thinking about Ryker, Graham, her mom, the child…and even Bryce? Or had she blown it with that giant slice of chocolate cake so late at night? She didn't know.

Or maybe it was the look on Chuck's face when she told him she wanted to stay in and have room service for fuck's sake when he asked her to explore the quaint town beyond the hotel and eat with him. Because that had felt so foolish and stupid. But the idea of being dunked into a barrel full of Christmas spirit and drowning in it sounded like torture. Even if she liked Chuck, even if she liked hanging out with him.

Even if eating food somewhere out there, with really good company, would've been way better than shutting herself up in her room, shutting the blinds to the Christmas lights outside of her window, eating a giant Caesar salad, and then watching a badly acted made for television movie while eating a piece of chocolate cake before plopping into bed to try to sleep.

Would it be so bad? Walking around with Christmas lights glaring down on her? She could just focus on Chuck. He had good stories. He made her laugh. It wouldn't be so bad. But she could feel that she'd probably hurt his feelings.

She had to fix that now. Even if everything in her was screaming to let bygones be bygones, let him move on with his life and enjoy his vacation, and then go home without having her get all mixed up in his holiday trip. Her and her endless hangups and inability to just be freaking normal.

She'd seriously turned down a kind offer that sounded legitimately fun because she was hiding from Christmas spirit. Was she absolutely mental?

"Jesus," she whispered to herself, shutting her eyes and sighing.

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

Sarah blinked at that and turned to glance over her shoulder. A tall brunette was skimming the shelf of toothpastes and toothbrushes. She must've realized she wasn't alone then and she turned wide eyes over her own shoulder, wincing.

Oh God.

It was Chuck's sister. Ellie, was it? Oh God, why was she in here? Sarah felt like an idiot. She was in here because she was buying something, just like Sarah was.

Oh God what did she do now? She was looking right at her. There was no hiding now. Nowhere to go.

A/N: Cue Billboard Hit from the year 1965, "Nowhere to Run" by Martha and the Vandellas.

Please review! Thanks!

-SC