A/N: This will have no spies or Intersect elements. Just a troubled young woman making changes in her life and how a guy who has had little success in it tries to help her. This Sarah is less likeable than normal; give her time.

I have to thank two of my friends for their encouragement on this story. CharmingCharles2896 read the first draft of this chapter and told me it was worth publishing. MarkeyDeSad said the same and kindly Beta'd this for me, so it should seem more American than some of my other stories.

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck, just anger at how women are sometimes treated.

Anger management
Chapter 1: New start

Moving to California had seemed such a good idea, but now she was regretting it, just as she had when in the two previous city moves in the last six years.

Sure, the weather was much better than in Chicago, where she'd been last, and she was now near her mom, who she hadn't seen for, what, nearly fifteen years, but she didn't feel like she fitted in here, any more than she had in Chicago or New York. Or back in DC, really.

Of course, those moves were largely driven by specific people, but settling in was always a challenge in a new city. Maybe she wasn't a city girl, even though she'd always lived in one.

Truth be told, she didn't think she'd enjoy being in some rural community either.

Part of it was what her last manager called her anger management issues. True, she didn't get on with others that well, but that was their fault, right?

So, she tried to say nothing, to anyone, but that never seemed to work. Why wouldn't they accept that she wasn't outgoing or talkative? She wanted to be allowed to silently observe people; she actually enjoyed that, but someone always decided she shouldn't. The women thought she was eyeing up their men and the men thought she was giving them a come on and would try to entice her into their lives, upsetting both her and their women. Her subsequent refusal upset the men too.

So, an outcast, as always.

She'd thought here in Los Angeles there would be lots of beautiful people and she would not stand out, and she could watch them all, but her behavior put pay to that.

Even getting a job was difficult. Women didn't want to take her on and the men saw her as a potential conquest, so she rarely stuck anywhere.

So, her latest short-term job was here in a German hot dog restaurant franchise in Burbank. At least the manager didn't eye her as a piece of meat, so she'd give this a try. The pay was poor though, and only just paid the rent for her small one bedroomed apartment and the meager food supplies she needed to subsist.

The 'uniform' he'd just handed her to wear was demeaning, though. Maybe she wouldn't last long here.

Maybe she should take her mom up on her offer to move in with her and her husband, but that just felt wrong. She was twenty-three and shouldn't still be living with a parent!

She was talking to her mom regularly though, one or the other calling a few times a week. Her mom's talk often consisting on questions about when she'd go and visit. Those calls usually came in the evenings, when she was on her own, so they provided a break in her isolation. However, sometimes the calls came during the day.

Her mom had texted her to say she'd call today at around 2pm, which Scooter had said would be fine, after the peak time.

She stormed out of the Wienerlicious. The uniform was worse than she had thought. When she had opened up, a string of young men had come in, wanting food, but then seeing who was serving, had lingered, trying to look down her top or, worse, when she went to wipe the tables, at her legs. One had 'dropped' a pen to try to look up her skirts!

Scooter had said to just 'roll with it', but she was now fuming. Tonight, she would start the search for a new job!

Her cell phone rang. Looking at the time, it was 2pm, so her mom was right on time. Her mood lifted slightly.

She accepted the call. "Hi, Mom."

"Hello, Sarah. Is it okay to talk?" It was nice hearing her mom's voice, after the hell she'd just been through.

She almost smiled. Almost. "Sure. Late lunch."

"I know you're struggling, so I've phoned an order for you at the Buy More. A DVD player and some DVDs. You just have to pick them up."

"Momm!" she growled. "You don't have to do that. I'm fine!"

"Just pick them up and enjoy them, Sarah," her mom told her.

Still grumbling, she crossed the parking lot and entered the store, hearing, "They're in your name, Sarah."

"You shouldn't have done this, Mom."

"I wanted …" The phone cut out. This had happened on a couple of other calls, too.

Sarah stopped and glared at the phone, shaking it, as if that would magically make it work again. It was now completely dead. "Shit!"

He'd just finished with the last person at the Nerd Herd desk and needed a short break. There were so few customers, he decided to take a breath outside. As he walked towards the entrance a young woman walked in talking on her cell phone. She seemed annoyed, but the deep frown on her face didn't hide how attractive she was. To be honest, he didn't think he'd ever seen anyone as beautiful before. She was tall, 5' 9", maybe more. Her long shapely legs were uncovered and seemed to go on forever. Her long blonde hair framed her face and her eyes were such a wonderful shade of blue, he felt he could gaze into them until the world stopped turning, entranced. However, that frown, scowl even, marred her appearance, so much so that he felt the need to do something to take it away.

He stopped and watched her walking towards him, wondering how he could make her happier. She walked past him without even noticing he was there. Well, he was used to being invisible to women. Summed up his life, these days.

He turned to watch her walk away, when she stopped and glared at her phone and swore.

This was something in his realm of experience. Maybe he could help her, after all.

"Can I help you with that?" A kindly male voice behind her. Sarah turned and had to look up to see the man's face. It was a kindly face, with eye-catching chocolate brown eyes.

She realized that she hadn't replied to him. Who was he and why did he have the nerve to ask her about her phone? "No," she replied, shortly.

That doesn't stop him. "I can see it's the Intellicell model that often has problems."

She looked at his name badge. At least he was an employee. Chuck Bartowski. "Look, Bartowski, I don't need your help. Get it?"

She could see him wince at her tone. She felt slightly guilty, but he had accosted her, not the other way around.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, if you change you mind, I'll be at the Nerd Herd desk." He wandered off.

She looked around the store to see where to pick up orders. When she did, she started towards it, but her phone rang again, so she answered it, "Hello?"

She heard her mom again, "Sar…." The phone died again.

"Shit!" she moaned again.

A mother and small child walked past her tutting at her language.

She looked back at where the Nerd Herd desk was, off to her right. She knew she would have to begrudgingly ask for his help. She hated having help from anyone, but if he could fix the phone, it really would be a lifesaver.

As she approached the desk, he was watching her. She hated being watched!

She couldn't help herself. "Stop scoping me out, Nerdie!"

To be fair, he had just been watching her eyes, not looking at her uniform, which was a refreshing change.

At her remark, he looked a bit shocked, so she dialed it down. "Sorry," she apologized, looking embarrassed.

He looked at her warily. She couldn't blame him.

"Also sorry about the remarks about the phone." She held it out to him. "Can you fix it?"

.He smiled once again. "Sure."

He took the phone from her and opened up the back. "There's a screw that comes loose; just have to tighten it up, then you'll be good to go."

She watched him as he did just that. Within a couple of minutes, he handed it back to her. "I'd suggest testing it, but I wouldn't want you to think I was just trying to get your number." He looked at her through his lashes.

Sarah snorted. She hadn't thought about such a scenario, but was actually appreciative that he said that. Looking at him, she felt the need to tease him. "What if I wanted to give it to you?"

"I- Wha- Yo-" he was completely flustered.

She took pity on him and reached forward, placing her hand on desk next to his arm, then she did something rare, she smiled. "I'm only joking," she stated. Even to her, it sounded like she really did.

That did more than calm him. He then started to blush, but then seemed to catch himself. He raised his eyebrows. "Not good enough for you, huh?"

She instantly felt flustered herself. "N- no. I- I didn-" she then spotted his smirk and shut up.

She shook her head. "Nice one, Bartowski."

"Chuck. Call me Chuck," he quickly replied.

She looked at him and just smiled for a few seconds. Then she surprised herself by saying, "Sarah."

She never told people her name. They might want to talk to her if she opened up. Somehow, she didn't seem to mind that about him. This was crazy. She took the phone off of him and just before turning to complete her reason for being in here, smiled again. "Thanks, Chuck."

As she walked to pick up the order, she could feel his eyes on her back, but strangely it didn't upset her.

Sarah rolled her eyes, when she saw the DVDs her mom had ordered. Christmas DVDs! Sure, it was Christmas, but did her mom really think a single woman of twenty-three would want to want happy Christmas films when she was all alone?

She looked through them. The first, 'Night Before Christmas' was not a film but a set of Tom and Jerry cartoons, starting with the title one. Well, she did remember that from before she left home and did have fond memories of it, so that wasn't a bad choice.

The second was 'The Grinch', another one for children. Was her mom trying to tell her something? 'You're still a child.' Or worse, 'When are you going to give me grandchildren?' However, reading about the main character, it felt a little like her, so maybe that would be interesting to see how the character coped with Christmas.

The final one was 'A Nightmare before Christmas'. Maybe that was what she was suffering?

She shook her head. Thanks, Mom!

Walking back through the store with the box under her left arm, the three DVDs in her right hand and an HDMI cable under her right arm, pressed against her side, she felt idiotic. This was the sort of thing techies liked, not her. She'd accept it, but she had to tell her mom not to do this sort of thing. It was embarrassing. Carrying it was part of that; maybe she should have accepted help, but that wasn't the sort of thing she ever did.

"Need any help with that, Sarah?"

She stopped and looked at him. "No, I'm fine, Chuck."

He flushed. "I- I didn't mean to set it up, although I could, but just wanted to help you carry it. You look awkward like that."

This man was persistent in trying to help her. She looked at him standing there, looking nervous as if she would snap at him at any second. Tempting though that would normally be, seeing how he looked, not threatening in any way, she decided to let him help her. It was a kind gesture, which was not really necessary, but such kindness shouldn't be turned down, should it?

"Thank you, Chuck." She leaned towards him to allow him take the DVD box from under her arm.

As he took the box from her, his hand brushed against hers. A spark shot between them. Damn static electricity! She looked up into his eyes. He looked surprised by the shock and snapped his eye to hers. They stood looking at each other. She actually found his eyes attractive. Then she realized what she was doing and shook her head and turned towards the door out of the store, taking the cable into her right hand as she did.

She walked over to her car listening to Chuck ramble.

"This is a great player, Sarah. The picture quality is the best. Of course, that will also depend on your TV. I have this one too. All the latest features…"

She rolled her eyes and couldn't stop herself from responding. "Nerd!"

He stopped and looked at her. "Yeah. I am. Is that bad?"

She stopped as well and turned to him. "No. I guess not. You just sound so focused on the technology. I'm not like that."

He obviously took offense. "I'm not asking you to be my girlfriend, Sarah, so I'm not trying to win your affections with my personality."

She considered that for a few seconds. He's right. He wasn't piling on the charm, just being himself. That was actually refreshing. She looked him up and down. Probably about 6' 4", slim, rather crazy hair and a friendly, welcoming face that was quite attractive and those gorgeous eyes. Quite an attractive package. Not the sporty, muscular sort that she had allowed into her life before, but he didn't look like he had an arrogant bone in his body.

She smiled. "Maybe you could win."

With that, she turned and walked up to her car, slipping the cable under her arm again so she could get to her key and unlock. She opened the trunk and dropped the DVDs and cable in. She turned around to tell Chuck to put the box in there too, but he was still standing where they had spoken, frozen.

She smirked realizing her comment had done that. She walked back to him and grabbed his free hand, pulling him to her car. That static electricity caught them again, which seemed to break him out of his trance.

She actually enjoyed holding his hand. It had been months since she had held anyone's hand and then it was Ryan and she certainly didn't want to think about him.

Once Chuck had placed the box in the trunk, she closed it and looked up at his face. "Thank you, Chuck. You're very kind."

He just looked at her. "W- would you like to have a coffee sometime?" He seemed to be bracing himself. "… with me?"

She hadn't expected this. She would normally refuse, certainly since Ryan, but his nervousness and how he had reacted earlier, intrigued her. He was different to most men, which fascinated her. This was a man she would like to observe more, but maybe this time, not from afar.

Then she thought about the comment she had made that had frozen him. She tilted her head slightly and teased, "Trying to win?"

He started spluttering, which made her laugh. She placed a hand on his arm. "Sorry. Yeah, I'll have a coffee with you." She then looked back at her current place of work and gestured at it with her thumb. "I actually work in there at the moment, so do you want to come over tomorrow?"

His smile was dazzling and his eyes just lit up. "Yeah!" She could see him stopping himself from fist pumping and she had to stop herself from laughing.

"I have to get back to the store, but I'll see you tomorrow, Sarah. I'm guessing your lunch break is after the main rush, so… 2pm?"

She really liked that he thought as he did. "Sure." She smiled at him and he turned and walked back to the Buy More.

She walked back to the Wienerlicious feeling much happier than she had when she'd left it. Maybe working here wasn't such a bad idea after all.

The afternoon was no better than the lunch period, but the people pissing her off were different. No more men from nearby offices or stores, no, in the afternoon it was teenagers stopping on their way home from school. At least most were not tall enough to try to look down her top. She did avoid cleaning tables while they were in there, though. They did, however, just stand there, ogling her.

By the end of the shift, she'd had enough and got out of there as fast as she could.

When she got to her apartment, she dropped the DVD box on her couch, along with the DVDs and the cable. She went straight to the bathroom, stripped and showered the day away.

She then made herself a coffee and sat on a chair glaring at the box occupying her couch. She knew she needed to set it up, if only to get the box out of there, but she just didn't have the will to do it.

Once she had finished her coffee, she just went through to her bedroom and lay down. Having her feet off the floor was a great relief.

She called her mom, who answered and launched straight into some advice. "Sarah. I assumed your phone was still playing up. You ought to get that fixed. They could do that in the Buy More, you know."

Groaning, Sarah wished she hadn't called. "I did, Mom. I got it fixed, so can now call you. Otherwise, you'd not be hearing me." Did other people find they had to state the obvious when talking to their parents?

"Good. How was your first day?"

She wanted to say shit, but decided she didn't want the advice to keep coming, so she said, "Fine."

"That bad, huh?"

Sarah chuckled. "Was it that obvious?"

"Yes. Are you going to look for something else?"

"Yeah, but right now I just want to relax and get over the day."

"Have you set up the DVD player?"

Shit! Why did her mom have to ask that?

"Not yet, Mom, but thank you for it." Then she remembered what came with it. "Christmas DVDs, Mom?"

"Well, It IS nearly December. I thought they'd get you into the Christmas spirit."

"You know I don't enjoy Christmas, Mom."

"Just because you've had a break up at Christmas…" her mom started.

She cut her mom off. "Two, Mom. Two break ups."

"Well, you're not with anyone now, are you, so no break ups happening this Christmas!"

"Is that supposed to help!" Sarah snapped.

"Sorry."

"I'm going to stop there, Mom, before you fill me with so much joy, I might burst."

There was a long pause. "Okay. Talk tomorrow?"

"Okay, Mom. Jut no more advice or depressing talk, please."

As she ended the call, she felt a bit guilty for talking to her mom like that, but the woman was just upsetting her.

She lay there, wishing her life was different, but didn't really know what she wanted. Changes, definitely. Maybe feel, or at least express, less anger at everything and everyone; having to curb that in her job just seems to make it worse elsewhere.

At least tomorrow she had something other than that awful uniform and lecherous males to look forward to. She would be going to a coffee shop and observing her latest acquaintance in a setting of his choosing. He may even be interesting enough to see again after that. At the back of her mind, she was aware that this was more than observation, but she was determined not to make the same mistake as in Chicago and let it become more. However, Chuck Bartowski did intrigue her. Why was he so shy? He was obviously older than her; had he not had girlfriends before? He was also sharp, and seemed intelligent, so why work in the Buy More?

She snorted at herself. How could someone selling hot dogs judge others?

Well, tomorrow she'd find out more about him. What was the phrase? 'Tomorrow is another day.'

A/N: First day in the new job is rarely what you expect. Poor Sarah has real anger and people issues; hopefully that will ease.

Please leave a review to let me know what you think of this.