A/N: I've got 37482947 stories going on and also an original novel, so I thought I'd just update this one today for now. Somebody apparently promised me one of their organs for an update, so I thought I'd go ahead and update and that guy can just...keep the organ inside his body where he needs it to be to, uh, you know...live. If that dude is reading this right now...Thanks, dude. Unnecessary, keep the organ, but thanks! Hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own "Chuck" and I'm not making any money writing this.
It was the next morning, when he was sitting in the dining room of his hotel, eating French toast and sausage, when Chuck heard about the potentially worrisome weather pattern that had been spotted south of the Hawaiian Islands.
He finished chewing, watching as the family talking about it walked past him, and then he decided to shrug it off and sip his mimosa. Best to just ignore it. He'd purposely picked a time to visit Hawaii that was outside of hurricane season. It was probably just…weird clouds and they were playing it safe, saying it could become a hurricane.
It was still raining like Sarah's coworker had said it would, but not nearly as much as it had the day before. Yesterday afternoon, as he lounged on the couch with Sarah and actually watched a movie he'd bought for them to watch online, it began to legitimately pour. Like whoever lived up in the clouds was just dumping buckets of water down over them.
But it was dying down now.
And he felt good about that because he really wanted to check out the other side of the island where there were apparently caves and tunnels that led to beautiful caverns that opened up into the sky and had waterfalls and small lakes. It was the kind of stuff he'd seen on travel blogs when he'd first booked his trip.
Perhaps tomorrow when the sun really came out. If Sarah didn't work, she could join him. Though he found he was all right with the prospect of sight-seeing alone, too.
He put his breakfast on his suite tab and left the dining room, deciding to take a stroll, as the rain had become more of a nice drizzle. He changed into his flip flops, slipped on a rain jacket he'd bought in the little shop down at the end of the street, and flipped the hood over his head before going out into the elements.
Chuck snorted at himself at the thought.
Such a Californian.
He trapped his cellphone, wallet, and keys in waterproof pockets in the jacket for his stroll and headed down to walk along the water. That was how he ended up missing Ellie's call. It took too long to actually get the phone out of the pocket and it had stopped ringing by the time he held it in his hand.
"Damn it," he breathed, immediately calling her back.
"Chuck! Hey!"
"Hi. Sorry. I couldn't get to the phone fast enough." He decided not to describe the pocket mishap to her. She didn't need to know. "What's up, El? How you doin'?"
"Uh, fine. What about you? The Weather Channel is saying there's a maybe-hurricane headed towards the islands."
He blinked and looked out at the ocean. "Do you just sit and watch the Weather Channel?"
"You know I do, Chuck."
Shaking his head, he snorted. "Well, I'm literally standing at the water right now and it's exactly the same as it always looks. Granted, it poured buckets yesterday, but it's drizzling now. I think people might be exaggerating. Or just playing it safe, ya know?"
"Oh, yeah?" Oh, no. He could hear that smart-ass tone of hers building up. "Didn't realize you also got a degree from Stanford in meteorology, Brainiac."
"Haaa," he mocked, curling his lip at the phone. "I'm just saying, they probably want people to prepare just in case. Better to be too prepared than not enough."
"Okay, I'm not arguing with you. Are you keeping track of things, though? Do you think your hotel has protocol for their guests? I looked on the map and your hotel is really close to the water. If there's a storm surge—"
"Ellie. I love you. Please don't freak me out unnecessarily about what might be a hurricane, but might also just be weird clouds to the South."
"Oh my God, Chuck. Hurricanes aren't about clouds. It's about air pressure and temperature of the water. You know what? Just…keep me updated and stay safe. Please."
He chuckled. "All right, sis. I will. It's gonna be fine."
"It better be. I've gotta head in for a surgery—"
"Oh, no! Are you okay?" He grinned at his own joke, frowning as he got absolutely no reaction from his sister.
"Really?" she asked in a flat voice. "A joke about somebody's brain surgery. That's classy, Charles Irving."
"Oh, come on. You're just in a mood. You'd normally laugh at that."
"No, I would not. And I'm not in a mood. I have to go."
"Fiiine fiiine. Love you, siiiis."
"Love you, jerkface."
When he hung up, he made a face. That wasn't a fun call. But their calls did end up like that sometimes when one or both of them were frustrated or nervous about something. Ellie's nerves were probably frayed over work, or maybe even the news was really building up this potential hurricane and she was nervous about him.
He would worry about it if he had to.
But for now, he was going to enjoy his walk along the shore.
By the time he got back to the hotel, it wasn't even drizzling anymore, and he took off the rain jacket because the air was warm and sticky, that tropical humidity creeping up out of nowhere and making him feel like he was walking through syrup almost.
But the air did smell nice. The blooms, the ocean air, plus that post-rain smell that made him sigh it was so comforting and just…well, nice was the perfect word, wasn't it?
His phone went off again, but this time it was just a text. He pulled his phone out of his pants pocket where he stuck it once he stripped the jacket off and glanced at it. Morgan texted in all capital letters, "DUDE! A HURRICANE IS HEADED FOR YOU! FIND A THICK TREE AND TIE YOURSELF AND THE SCUBA INSTRUCTOR TO IT! HERE'S HOW TO." He included a clip from what looked like a movie called The Hurricane from nineteen-thirty-seven, according to the thumbnail.
"Seriously, Morgan?" he said out loud, shaking his head and, in spite of himself, watching the clip. It was terrifying even as grainy and old as it was and Chuck texted back a snippy, "Super helpful. Thanks," before shoving his phone back in his pocket.
What he needed to do was get to a television, because apparently in about an hour, the potential hurricane had become more of an actual hurricane. And he needed to just know for himself instead of hearing it through the grapevine from other people. People who weren't even here.
He got up to his suite a few minutes later, hung his jacket in the closet, and went to the television, turning on the news first thing. The meteorologist showed the storm on the map, south of the islands and talked about the potential of it hitting the islands if it didn't start veering soon, and how it was slowly starting to form and gain power.
"We'll probably see it hit the islands in about forty-eight hours or less, Greg," she finished, and they thanked her, doing the typical "uh oh, we better prepare ourselves ho ho ho" type of transition newscasters did before switching to the sports report. Chuck made a face and turned it off, going over to grab his laptop and get actual news that was regularly updated.
He hit up a few weather sites, watching the live feeds of the shore at the southern-most point of the big island. It looked overcast, just like it was on Kauai, but the waves weren't crazy, it wasn't pouring. It looked like there was just a bit of rain.
But he had to admit, though he'd never do it in front of Ellie since she was such a grump to him on the phone, he knew nothing whatsoever about hurricanes except for the images he'd seen on the news of disaster areas after the fact. The death tolls, the damage, power outages and contaminated drinking water…
Gulping, he shut his laptop altogether and pushed a hand through his hair nervously, turning to glance out towards the ocean. He got up and went out onto his balcony, feeling the calm beach breeze pick up a bit as he stood out there, hands gripping onto the railing tightly. He turned to look out towards the South. Of course there was nothing there, not even a speck of something terrifying on the horizon. But if that hurricane didn't steer far enough west, Kauai might get slammed, since it was one of the furthest west islands, damn it.
He went back to his laptop again and opened it, then shut it, then opened it again, then shut it, pushing his fist against his mouth.
If Sarah weren't at work right now, he'd most likely text or call her to ask if she were free. That'd be the perfect distraction: an excursion—preferably one away from the open waters—off to somewhere stunning with his own bad ass guide. Even just being around her would be a good diversion from the nerves starting to creep up on him.
He grabbed his phone, then put it back down again. Then he picked it up again and put it down.
Chuck didn't want this to become a thing. He didn't want to run to her for everything, or anytime he was bored. He was on vacation, damn it. He was a grown man, after all, and he could handle vacationing without needing to go to someone else for diversion.
And then he laughed at himself quietly. Because he knew that had nothing to do with how often he thought about Sarah. He thought about her as often as he did because he was crazy about her. He liked spending time with her. He wanted to spend all of his time with her.
But he needed to chill the hell out with that woman, because it was too easy to forget that she lived here and he simply…didn't. He lived thousands of miles away, on the other side of an ocean. It would take a five hour plane ride to see her again once this vacation was over.
And he had to take it easy.
It was just so hard to take it easy when she was right in front of him, those magnificent eyes looking up at him with that certain glint, the sound of her laughter that was more often than not directed at him.
Just thinking about her had him smiling, pushing the apparent hurricane that was headed for them out of his mind. So he picked up his phone and, in spite of knowing she was at the Scuba Shack today, he texted her. She'd text back when she was able to, he decided. Even if it wasn't until tonight when she got home from work. He typed out a quick: "It stopped raining. Will you please do me a favor and tell Gina that I said so?" He hit send and grinned at his own self-deprecating humor.
He could almost imagine Sarah's coworker laughing when she told her about the text.
Surprisingly, a response came back within a few minutes.
I told her and she cracked up. She went outside, looked up at the sky, and said That cheeky fucker's right. Her actual words.
She added a laughing face at the end of the text.
Chuck laughed out loud.
I'm a cheeky fucker now. That's awesome.
For the record, to me you're just Curls or Brainy Bartowski.
He paused, thought of his response, and then groaned a little.
Forgot about Brainy Bartowski. My sister called me Brainiac on the phone today but the way she used it was much more sarcastic.
He ended the text with a flat look emoji.
Why's that?
Cuz I said people are probably exaggerating about the hurricane. She made a crack about not knowing I studied meteorology in college.
Lol! That isn't nice. But you might be a little wrong.
He watched as the dots popped up like she was typing something else.
About people exaggerating I mean.
The dots popped up again. He watched them for a while, lounging back into his chair.
Alexei has these weather transmitters. He thinks he's some kind of scientist but he reads them pretty well by now and he said SHIT while he was looking at it just now. Pretty sure it's a legit cyclone.
Chuck felt a chill go down his spine and he frowned.
Well shit. That doesn't sound fun.
Not great timing with that vacation, Curls.
She sent a frowning face.
Didn't really expect a hurricane/cyclone. He sent it and started typing again. Whatever the difference is.
Come down to the Shack right now and we'll teach you some things. Alexei might even let you touch his transmitters.
Chuck let out an immature snicker.
I like it when you talk dirty to me, Scuba Sarah.
…ALEXEI'S transmitters?
He just sent back about twenty laughter emojis, laughing loudly to himself in his room. He liked her so damn much his insides ached with it.
You weirdo. I don't even know if I want you to come to the Shack anymore. I might retract the invite.
Chuck let out a quiet giggle and got up from where he'd plopped in the comfortable chair, going into the bedroom and grabbing a few things, his wallet, room key, the rain jacket, just in case. Then he texted, Do you really want me to join you over there? I thought you were working.
Yes.
He blinked at her immediate response. Yes, what?
All of it. ; ) We cancelled taking boats out for the rest of the week because of this maybe storm. Not taking any chances out there. But I'm still at work. We're prepping for the next few days just in case it does hit.
Chuck got a chill again.
Ah I see. Am I invited, though? Really? Or am I gonna get there and Alexei's gonna be mad? I wanna be on his good side, not his bad side.
She sent a smirk emoji. Why? You think my dad won't let you take me out on dates anymore?
He let out a low whistle and shook his head. Wow. Wow okay. Cool.
Hahaha! Just come down, if you want.
He was still hesitating a bit.
Do YOU want?
We could do this all day. Just come. Please? You can't see it but I'm pouting.
He sent a gif of Michelle Tanner from Full House yelling "I'm coming! I'm coming!", stuffed his phone in his pocket, and changed into boat shoes. They squeaked a little bit because he barely wore them, but he figured it'd be okay once he went around in them for a bit. It wasn't that noticeable.
And he had no idea what kind of things he'd be helping with, or where those Shack folks would take him when he got there. Best to wear shoes that weren't made out of canvas in case it rained. He'd learned that the hard way too many times.
He called a Lyft and headed downstairs. It arrived right on time, just as he strode out of the lobby and into the roundabout driveway.
Within twenty minutes, thanks to what his driver called "peak island traffic", he was pulling up to the small lot beside the Scuba Shack. There were a few cars there, one of them Sarah's red Camry. And a strange sensation of comfort lit in his chest as he recognized it as hers. She was at the Shack, right inside that building. Of course she was; she told him she'd be there…but that sensation was still there… He was in some trouble, he thought. Genuinely.
He got out of the Lyft with a 'thank you' and walked up to the Shack's doorstep. He spotted Sarah through the window before he even got to the door and she spotted him back, grinning, doing an adorable little hop, jogging around the desk, and hurrying to meet him as he walked in.
She wrapped her arms around his shoulders in a warm hug and he squeezed her back with one arm, lifting his other hand to wave at Alexei as the man looked up from his laptop screen.
"Well, well! If it isn't our good Californian friend, Charles!"
"Hello, sir."
Sarah pulled back and pressed her lips together in amusement, tilting her head as she looked up at him.
"Sir?" Alexei chuckled and came around the desk, thrusting his hand out as he crossed the room to meet the younger man. "Dear God, you make me feel like a private school headmaster. Alexei, Alexei please."
With a chuckle, he unwrapped his arm from Sarah's torso and grabbed the Englishman's hand in a tight grip. "Sorry. It's a hard habit to break."
"See that you break it." Alexei shivered, then chuckled good-naturedly. "What brings you here today? If you want another journey out into the depths, you're out of luck today, my boy. Actually everyone's out of luck for the rest of the week."
He looked genuinely disappointed about it, and Chuck wondered what kind of a hit the business took when they had to cancel for this long because of a storm. Judging by the prices he saw online when he looked up just how much Ellie had spent on his scuba excursion last week, they were missing out on thousands of dollars of income.
That was just quick math in his head, though. It might be more, considering the pricier packages available.
Chuck glanced at Sarah. It seemed she hadn't asked for her boss' approval before she asked him to come visit her at work. She winced a little in response, as though reading the look on his face.
"Actually, Alexei, I asked him to come down."
He turned to her. "Oh? That bored, are you?"
She smirked. "How on Earth is a girl supposed to get bored in this place?"
But she didn't exactly say why she'd invited him, either, and he supposed in the end, it didn't matter. Alexei didn't seem perturbed about it as he clapped his hands together and put a hand on Chuck's shoulder.
"Oh! You're tall!"
Chuck blinked. "Uh…yeah, uh, what?"
"Sorry. Context. I am an old fool sometimes. I speak what's in my head and never provide the context. I can't wait 'til I'm old enough that people let me just get away with it." He chuckled and pulled him along.
"A-Alexei, is that safe?" Sarah asked, following as they headed through the door behind the front desk and down a long hallway with offices, a restroom, and a massive supply room.
"Of course it is. And he's the perfect height. How tall are you?"
"Er, a little over six-four…"
"See? I've gotten something of an old man hunch that's shrunk me down from what I used to be when I was a young lad like you." He grimaced. "Also I've developed a fear of heights."
They stepped outside to where a ladder was sat on its side.
Chuck froze. "W-Wait, what? Heights?"
"Yes."
"Chuck, it's okay." Sarah put a hand on his arm. "He's not here for that, Alexei," she said to the older man.
"Oh, I know. But aren't you a tech wiz? You're good with technology, right? We just need someone who is tall and fearless to go up on our roof and fix that antenna. My transmitters are on the fritz and I need them to track the hurricane. You understand, of course."
"Er…of course." He cleared his throat. "S-So you want me to climb up this ladder onto this sloped roof, and fix that antenna."
"Yes."
"Oh."
"Chuck, don't." Sarah turned to Alexei. "Are you serious? You said you were going to call a professional repairman out here for it last week."
"My transmitters were still working last week," he said, almost pouting. "And now they aren't."
"Yes, God forbid Alexei doesn't get to play with his toy." Kai came out through the door they'd just walked out of, and immediately wrapped Chuck in a bear hug. "Nice to see you, my friend. Aloha."
"Hi, how are ya, Kai?"
"Well, my friend. Very well. Please do not climb onto our roof to fix the antenna."
"Kai, look how tall he is."
"You realize lightning is a genuine concern, though, right?" Sarah asked. "I'm not letting him get struck by lightning for your weather transmitter."
"Call the pros out. They'd probably do a much better job than me," Chuck reasoned, putting a hand on the Scuba Shack owner's shoulder. "I'd maybe finagle it well enough to work for a bit, but it wouldn't be a permanent fix by any means. I'm mostly a computer guy."
"What he isn't telling you is that he already called the pros and they aren't doing anything on any roofs until after this storm passes," Kai said, giving his partner a flat look.
"What? Oh my God, Boss, are you trying to make him do this for you when even professionals aren't going up in this weather?" Sarah exclaimed. She put a protective hand on Chuck's arm, he noticed, and it felt…rather good.
"I don't hear thunder. There's no rain, not even a drizzle."
Chuck bit his lip. "Do you have the proper tools?"
"What?!"
"Yes! I do, Charles!"
Sarah spun on him. "Chuck, tools or not, this legitimately is very dangerous."
He shook his head. "I mean, the sloped roof is a worry but I wore my squeaky boat shoes. Non-slip!" He bounced on his toes a few times and he heard the soft squeak-y-squeak from them. She seemed unable to keep from giggling at that, even with the worry in her eyes.
"Seriously. Chuck. If you fall and break your neck, I will never forgive myself," she said, squeezing his arm, forcing him to meet her eye.
"If you fall and break your neck, I'll take Alexei out into the Pacific and leave him there," Kai added.
"I'll help," she said, nodding.
Chuck looked up at the antenna, squinting a bit. "Do we know what's wrong with it?"
"I tried to do a diagnostic on it the other day, but I um…know nothing about that shit," the Hawaiian said, shrugging.
Chuck laughed and gave Sarah's arms a squeeze before moving out of her grip. "I can figure it out. Help me with the ladder, fellas?"
"Charles, you are an absolute gentleman!" Alexei exclaimed, rushing over with Kai to help him set the ladder up.
"Chuck, you're insane. You could easily get hurt," Sarah argued, moving to stand at the base of the ladder. "Or die!"
"Sarah, every word you say to dissuade this brilliant young man from helping me, I'm docking from your salary," Alexei teased.
Chuck turned to her, poised to climb up the ladder, adrenaline running through his veins. He put on a superhero pose, squinting his eyes. And he said, melodramatically, "I have to, Sarah. Gotta protect your paycheck."
"Oh, yeah. My hero," she sassed in a sarcastically flat voice.
He leaned in to kiss her and she slid a hand over the back of his neck, rubbing it softly in that delicious way of hers. When he pulled back, he smiled a little. "I've done this before." He turned back to the ladder. "Fellas, this doesn't count for the whole PDA game thing, by the way. Since I'm risking my neck doing this."
"Fair enough, brah."
"Touché."
"Oh. Uh…tools."
"I'll hand them up to you," Kai said, grabbing the box from the ground and lifting it for Chuck to see.
"Radical. Let's do this then."
"Men are such idiots," he heard Sarah grumble.
But Chuck was already climbing up the ladder, grinning. The truth was that while he was a little nervous about the lightning, heights didn't necessarily bother him much, and he wasn't lying to reassure Sarah. He really had repaired things like this in his college days. Living in a frat house filled with science and tech nerds had meant having a stupid amount of weird contraptions like this on their roof, and that was a two-story craftsman house they'd lived in, built in the year nineteen-hundred-and-twelve. He'd survived self-taught antenna repairs as a twenty-one year old idiot. He would survive this. Easy. It helped that he was fully sober this time, too.
"Tools?" he called down as he reached the roof.
He only made Kai come up about halfway. With how long both of their arms were, he could reach down and grab it from the Hawaiian as he reached up towards him in turn.
He snagged the box by its handle and lifted them up next to him, carefully starting to climb to his feet. But he stopped and flattened himself as a gust of wind went past, fluttering at his shirt and his hair. He sent a wide-eyed look down at the other three, then moved up to his feet. "It's actually not as sloped as I thought. This is fine," he called down, carefully picking his way across the tiles.
"It's getting windy. Should he be up there if it's getting windy?" he heard Sarah's voice ask, obviously worried.
He was only human, of course, which meant he wasn't above preening just a little bit at Sarah Walker being worried about him. It was a warming reminder that she cared about him.
"He's fine."
"Well, the bigger they are, the harder they fall," Kai said.
"I HEARD THAT!" he yelled down.
"Woops."
He chuckled to himself and finally reached the antenna. He saw the problem immediately. "Who the hell screwed in this cable?" he called out. "It's all crooked and wonky, not even in the hole properly."
"That's what she said!" Kai yelled.
"Good one! But also, I'm serious, it's really bad." Chuck thought he knew by the silence that it had been Alexei. Or Kai. One of the two men. Especially when he heard Sarah let out a dry, "Oh, God."
He chuckled again and got to work, unscrewing. It was getting harder to do as the gusts of wind became more frequent up on the roof. By the time he was able to jimmy the cable out completely, the antenna seemed like it was leaning towards him, falling. He let out a yelp, but realized it was perfectly secure, that it was just a liner that was peeling off of it in the wind.
"CHUCK? ARE YOU OKAY?!" Sarah asked, terror in her voice.
"Yep! Yeah, I'm good! No worries!"
"What happened?"
"Nothiiiiing," he called down, deciding it was best none of them knew what was going on up here. It took him a while to comb through the tools, rifling through the box to find the right type of screwdriver. He fixed the connection, even used the screwdriver to tighten it to its base.
He glanced at his watch every so often and figured that by the time he'd finished, it took him close to thirty-six minutes. He knew now why his height was mentioned. The antenna was tall, and readjusting it for the signal once he'd fixed the wire, with Kai and Alexei yelling "LEFT!" and "RIGHT!" and "BACK A LITTLE!" and finally "…PERFECT!", had taken the entire length of his body. He was glad he had such long arms.
But he had made it so that Alexei could use his transmitters again, and he was too busy silently congratulating himself, taking in the quietly impressed look on Sarah's face, to watch his step. One of the tiles was a bit shorter than the others and he stepped down further than he'd been expecting. He nearly pitched forward, right over the side of the roof, but he got down onto his stomach and caught himself to stop from sliding, pressing his face against the grimy tiles in relief as Sarah screamed—literally screamed.
"All right, THAT'S IT! Get down from there RIGHT NOW!" she bellowed up at him, and he saluted her, still a bit shaky from his close call, carefully handing the tools down to Kai who came halfway up again to take them from him, swinging his leg down to feel for the first rung.
It was smooth from that point on as he clambered down the ladder.
His foot barely touched the ground before Sarah practically tackled him. He had to take a step back and brace his hand on the wall of the Scuba Shack she came at him so intensely.
"You absolute fucking idiot," she muttered, squeezing him tight. He squeezed back, not letting anyone see his utter relief. That near fall had been…a little much for his nervous system, even if this had proven to be the perfect distraction from the incoming hurricane. Or cyclone. Whatever the hell they were calling it.
Sarah pulled back and wiped at his face with her thumb. "Why'd you put your face on that nasty roof?" she asked, still wiping at the grime he'd gotten on his face apparently.
"It was the closest horizontal surface I had and I needed to be as close to it as possible. I almost died—gimme a break."
Chuck felt strong arms wrap around him from behind and his eyes popped as Alexei literally kissed the side of his face, long and hard. Sarah looked ready to burst into laughter, probably more at his resulting face than her boss' action. "YOU ARE THE BEST, CHARLES! I LOVE YOU!"
It began to rain again just then and Alexei kissed his cheek again. "You tall, beautiful man!"
"Hey, uh… Boss, this one's mine. Remember?" Sarah said smoothly, blinking in the rain as she reached out and peeled Chuck away from Alexei's now-uncomfortable embrace. But Chuck was too focused on the way she'd just called him hers. God, that sounded good, even if this whole thing was only temporary.
"Maybe you guys should get out of the rain," Kai called from inside where he'd smartly dashed once the rain started.
"Oh."
Chuck grabbed Sarah with both arms around her waist and bodily lifted her off the ground as she squealed and laughed. He ran her inside, where it was dry. "I saved you," he said breathlessly as he put her down.
"Uh huh," she drawled, a dubious look on her face. "At least that crap got washed off your face," she giggled, though, grabbing a dry towel from the nearby pile and throwing it over his head.
Chuck laughed and pushed the towel away from his face, scrubbing his hair with it and then letting it fall around his shoulders. He just watched for a few moments as she dried her shoulders and arms.
"God, it's so muggy out. I don't know if this is rain or sweat," Sarah said, pulling her hair up into a high bun and drying her neck off.
"Gross," Kai murmured as he swept past.
She and Chuck both laughed, and she reached out to shove him in the back as he tried to escape her wrath.
"My beautiful transmitters!" Alexei called out from another room.
Chuck brushed past Sarah, the towel still around his shoulders, and he moved down the hallway until he found the older man hunched over his laptop in one of the offices. Alexei looked up and waved him in. "Charles, come in! Come look at this! You have to see your work in action."
"This your office?"
"Well, it's an office. None of us really have our own office. We just float through them like ghosts. Ha! Wot? Come here. Let me show you."
Chuck moved into the room and glanced over his shoulder at Sarah as she stopped in the doorway and leaned against the frame, still dabbing at her skin with the towel.
He felt her eyes on him then as he leaned over Alexei and let the man show him the different stations, the air pressure, wind speeds, temperature. "Now the trick, Charles, is how to read them." He pulled a thick book up and slammed it down on the desk, making Chuck jump. "I need a lot of help, but I think I've mostly figured it out. Enough, at least, to know that we are experience pre-cyclone conditions."
"Oh? Comforting."
"Oh, we'll be fine. A little bit of rain and wind never hurt anybody."
Chuck made a doubtful sound and tilted his head thoughtfully. "I mean, it has. Quite a few—ahem, so the air pressure." He'd caught a bit of a shake of the head from Sarah and he changed the subject, pointing at the screen. "That's bad, huh? The little graphic thingy that's bouncing?"
"Er…maybe." Alexei chuckled. "I have to figure it out. I'm still just a student."
And as the rain stopped again outside, it showed on his screen. He and Chuck threw their hands up in a cheer, Alexei pointing, "Look at that! Isn't that cool, Charles?!"
He didn't catch the long look Sarah was giving him from the doorway, a mixture of things in her features; longing, warmth, worry…and hesitation.
}o{
The wind got worse.
And wind was his most unfavorite type of weather. It made his clothes feel weird, his cotton T-shirts plagued with static, sticking to his torso all weird. And it made him crabby. It helped though that it wasn't a dry wind, he supposed, but that also meant his clothes stuck to him with the humidity instead.
Paradise, my ass…
And then he checked himself a bit because he'd had almost two weeks of glorious vacation that really did feel like paradise, before and after meeting Sarah. And even though the meteorologists and local officials were handing out advice on how to prepare for the storm, because there was a legitimate cyclone that had formed and it was making its way up towards the islands, they were saying it wasn't looking like it was gaining much power. Granted, it hadn't veered much like they'd hoped. And Kauai would still be right in its path if it didn't start steering west soon.
After spending yesterday looking at Alexei's equipment and watching as the Scuba Shack crew began preparing for the storm, heading out and securing their boats, boarding up glass windows, et cetera, even helping them with some of it, Chuck felt like he was going to be okay.
As okay as any Californian who'd only witnessed earthquakes and fires could be in this sort of situation.
His experience in Seattle hadn't been a hurricane. It was a freak storm that had come out of nowhere… Like it had targeted them alone, taken them out, and calmed right after. Like it had wanted one life for its own and was satisfied enough after the fact.
Chuck swallowed thickly and pushed his hands through his hair. It was best not to think too hard on that again. Even though it rarely was far from his mind. This last week, it hadn't been much of a problem, however. It had been far from his mind, replaced instead by any number of things, but mostly a certain blond adventuress and Shakespeare scholar. He'd watched her tie a knot to secure the Henrietta yesterday, wind whipping at her hair, and it was probably the biggest turn on he'd ever experienced in his life. Her hands had moved so fast and those arm and shoulder muscles…
He stood up from the table next to his balcony and went straight into the bathroom to splash cold water on his face and the back of his neck.
She'd nearly caught him doing the same thing yesterday after he'd witnessed her boating skills firsthand, and he wasn't entirely sure she didn't know what he'd done in the bathroom when they met in the hallway, as he was still drying his neck with a paper towel. She'd had a dubious look in her eye.
There was a knock on his suite door then and he grabbed a hand towel, drying his face, dabbing at his neck as he crossed to the door and opened it.
Sarah had one hand on the door frame, leaning jauntily against it, her other hand propped on her hip. "Hey."
"Hiii," he breathed, still dabbing at his neck. He dropped the towel to his side and cleared his throat. "Did you drive here?"
"Mhm. That's what my car is for."
He narrowed his eyes and stepped back, opening the door wider for her to come in. She did, giggling with her tongue between her teeth. "One good thing about this storm approaching is I don't have to go back to work. We've shuddered the place up, boats are as secure as possible. I think Alexei is bummed he can't take his transmitters home with him, though."
Chuck snorted. "For not quite knowing how it all works, he's obsessed with that machine."
"Could be worse. I knew someone who found a lot of porn on their boss' office computer when they were just trying to pull up an old case file." A bit of a look came over her face for a split second, but it was gone quickly enough that Chuck figured he'd misread or something. He chuckled. "So we're lucky."
"Well, that's just…weird."
"What, the porn?"
"Of course the porn," he laughed.
"I dunno, maybe you have a thing about weather machines." They laughed together and then she slid in against him and cupped his face, leaning up to kiss him slowly.
When she lowered herself back to her heels and peered up at him, he let her see a slow, crooked grin on his face.
"What was that for?"
"You're a fantastic kisser and I wanted it." She shrugged, a sparkle in her eye, and she swept past him, letting her fingers drag along his chest before she went to his balcony doors. One of these days, he wondered if his heart might just stop beating, or maybe his legs would give out and he'd just crumble to the floor like Woody in Toy Story whenever Andy came back into the room.
"Ugh, it's getting windier outside," she said. "I hate when the palm trees start bending like that. It creeps me out."
"You ever been through a hurricane?"
"Mhm. Once. I was, um, probably like seventeen or eighteen." He couldn't see her face but he could hear something in her tone, like she was hesitating. "It was worse than this is going to be. And I survived just fine." She turned back and smiled at him reassuringly. "I know you're probably pretty nervous and that's okay, but don't get too nervous, all right? They know how to deal with this."
"I'm not super nervous. Just sort of nervous. All I know are earthquakes and there really isn't a forty hour period of time to stress and dwell and freak yourself out, ya know? There are a few seconds of this…sound…like something is rolling towards you underground…almost like an approaching subway train under your feet or something. And then bam, it hits, there's shaking, and then it's over. Can't really prepare much except build strong buildings." He chuckled and shrugged, sticking his hands in the pockets of his shorts.
"I guess so. But also, the idea of being in an earthquake terrifies me because you can't prepare. I have this fear that I'll get caught in an earthquake while I'm in the shower and shampooing my hair or something." She hugged herself and shivered as he laughed.
"That's a pretty amazing image." And then he realized how that sounded and he furrowed his brow, lifting a finger. "Oh. Wait. Not that I'm—I'm not, like—Not just because you-in-the-shower-naked, I meant the shampooing and the…shaking. You know what? This is one of those 'Just shut up and take the L, Chuck' moments, so…" He mimicked zipping his mouth shut as she threw her head back with a laugh.
"Nobody's ever been so charming while imagining me naked, I have to say."
"I wasn't imagining you naked. My mouth just…does things I don't want it to do sometimes."
"I know. I'm pretty familiar with your mouth, thank you."
Chuck let out a long breath and groaned, covering his face. He heard her laugh again. "Please, please, take pity on me and stop doing that."
Her laugh turning into an adorable, "Awwwww", and he heard her close the distance between them, pulling his hands away from his face and leaning up to kiss him again. "How's that?"
"Hm. Try it again, maybe."
Giggling, she kissed him once more, longer this time. And it was like a switch went off in him a trigger…or maybe it was a particularly wretched howling sound from the wind outside, a brutal gust, that sent a chill through him, but he wrapped his arms tighter around her and kissed her harder, breaking away to drag his lips down her jaw, to her neck. His fingers twisted in the pretty, navy blue, flowing skirt she wore and pushed it out of his way, feeling her bare thigh under the slit of the material.
She made a soft whimpering sound and pulled back, putting her hands on his chest and letting out a rough breath through pursed lips, blinking. "Whoa. Wow, Chuck. Hold on there, Tiger…"
"Sorry… Lost my head for a second." He rubbed a hand down his face and shook himself a bit.
"No, no. Please do not apologize for kissing me like that. Ever." She licked her lips. "I just…for once, I'm not, uh, here for that. As much as you're making me sorta…second guess that." She got a dreamy look on her face for a second, but then shook her head and let out another breath. "But no. Um, actually I was wondering if you could help me. With something."
"Oh." He bit his lip, forcing his desire to take a backseat. "Of course. Have a roof I need to climb on? Another antenna?"
She narrowed her eyes just a bit, for only a moment, and then she giggled and shook her head. He noticed she had yet to take her hands from his chest, still strong arming him, keeping him at a distance. He was glad. Because that soft skin under his hand had made his fingers tingle and they hadn't stopped yet.
"No antenna, no. And please, Chuck, no more climbing on anyone's roof. I honestly wanted to strangle Alexei for that. And you too—a little bit—for agreeing to do it."
"He threatened to dock your pay!"
"You damn well know he never would've actually done that," she laughed.
"Yeah, I know. But it was kind of fun. I let my imagination get a bit carried away and pretended I was Keanu Reeves in Speed but replace a runaway bus bomb with a roof antenna and I was racing against time with a—You know what? I don't need to keep going, you get it I think."
She laughed. "You're such a kid in a super tall, strapping man body."
"I dunno if that's a compliment or not."
"I don't, either," she admitted, wrinkling her nose. "But I kinda like it. A lot actually. So take that as you will."
"That's a win in my book."
That made her grin up at him, and then she took a deep breath and nodded once. "So okay…my house isn't at all ready for this storm because I was so busy prepping the Shack yesterday and now it's today and the storm's supposed to get bad tomorrow afternoon and hit at night…I need a lot of help."
Part of him wanted to ask why none of her coworkers offered to help, but he kept his mouth shut about that. First of all, he figured they probably had their own preparations to do for the storm. And secondly, he liked that she was asking him for help, liked the idea of stepping in to fortify her home, help keep her safe. He was only human and damn him, but he fell into the machismo trap of feeling manly, he supposed.
"I am at your disposal."
She smiled at him, but then she pulled back, holding her hand up. "Are you sure? Because, listen, this is your vacation," she chuckled. "And I highly doubt you expected to be helping someone nail plywood over her windows." She winced.
"I did not expect a hurricane to come through during my vacation, no. That is true. But I also didn't expect to have a scuba lesson turn into a date which then became more dates and…this." He gave her a warm look.
She gave him a similar look and raised her eyebrows. "What is this?" she asked quietly and he thought he saw that she maybe felt like she shouldn't have asked that question, so he decided not to go quite as deep as he felt. He would let her off the hook as much as he could.
"The best part of my vacation, easily."
Chuck could tell she hadn't expected him to say anything close to that, and the warmth in her increased as she bit her lip.
"Let's go buy you a generator first, just in case," he continued.
The warm affection in her eyes didn't go away even as she clapped her hands together and pursed her lips. "Already got one of those."
"Oh! Good! Okay, well I went down a spiral late last night when it was raining on and off and freaked myself out enough that I started researching basically everything I possibly could about hurricanes, cyclones, et cetera. So I also know we need to strap down your roof. We need to put caulk around your windows and doors. Put up some storm shutters over your balcony doors especially, but also the windows. And you're gonna need to pull that patio furniture in. Either the garage or the living room."
Sarah blinked. "My car is in the garage." She shut her eyes and shook her head at herself, opening them and looking a bit sheepish. "I mean, it isn't now. It's parked down in your hotel's parking lot right now. But it-it will be in the garage."
"Your living room it is. Let's go. Uh, you mind if I change and stuff first?"
She shook her head, amused and maybe even a little wide-eyed. "No, of course not."
"Great. This is gonna be fun. Project Hurricane-Proof Casa de Walker!" and he bounded off into his bedroom to change into an older T-shirt, jeans, and put some hiking boots on. He was almost excited, in spite of the dark clouds that would be appearing on the southern horizon by tomorrow.
He had a task. And he felt like he was protecting his scuba instructor in a way. If he could just hold onto this feeling for a while, maybe the actual hurricane wouldn't be quite so bad.
A/N: Uuuuuh oh. Some plot in the plotless story. I didn't think hurricanes in September were a thing for Hawaiians (not that I'd ever researched it before), but then that happened with Hurricane Olivia and I wrote this as a result. I asked around, did my own research, but I'm only a Californian, so don't hurt me if I get stuff wrong. I only know about earthquakes and fires. (wince)
Thanks for reading! I love your reviews!
-SC