A/N: This is chapter 20. And I have to laugh, I really do. Because this was literally just a one shot for a long time, and now there are 20 chapters. It was supposed to be something I only really worked on if I needed it. Something warm and fluffy and fun, when I needed a break from other fics that weren't as warm or fluffy, that weren't comedy or pure romantic, not plot heavy... Well, there are 20 chapters now, so apparently I've needed it quite a bit. THANKS, WORLD! YOU'RE DOING GREAT! SARCASM!
Anyway, thanks to everyone who reads this, and to everyone who extends themselves enough to review and/or send me messages about it. This fic gets a lot of love and I really appreciate it. It's not going away anytime soon and neither am I. I need this as much as y'all do.
Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck and I'm not making money from writing this story.
Chuck woke up alone in bed the next morning, and when he felt the coolness of the mattress next to him where she'd been when they fell asleep together, he thought maybe he'd teased her too hard and she'd left early in annoyance before he woke up.
He reached over to grab his cellphone, trying to drum up a good enough apology for the teasing he'd done. And then he stopped himself and shook his head, smirking. He needed to listen to what people said to him, and he needed to heed Sarah's repeated reassurances. Finally. He thought every little thing might upset her, that he was going to send her running for the hills by being too this, or saying that, and how many times did she have to tell him to calm down before he actually did it?
She probably had a dive to run, he reasoned then.
He hadn't teased her hard enough that she got annoyed and left before he woke up. She wasn't the type of person who was upset by teasing, first of all. Especially when she'd made fun of herself for how she'd woken him up in the middle of the night. And if she had been upset, she wouldn't have pulled this. She wouldn't have just ditched him in a huff without talking to him. That wasn't the sort of person she was. She was one of the most mature and easygoing people he'd ever met.
Chuck almost slumped back down onto the mattress again, but he decided to get out of bed instead. It had rained the night before, a few ten minute cloudbursts that had been so heavy he'd been pulled from sleep by the sound. But the sun was bright and unobstructed by clouds this morning, slowly rising and drying the south point of Kauai.
He decided to wipe off the table and chairs on the balcony and sit outside for a few minutes with his laptop, getting some coding done to help his employees out a bit. Nomar had sent him a text the day before about how close they were to finishing the update on one of their newer anti-virus programs but that they'd hit a snag. It was something that could be fixed when he got back to LA in less than a week because they were way ahead of schedule. But since he had some time, he grabbed his laptop, went out onto the balcony with a few clean hotel beach towels, and wiped it all down. He was about to sit and get to work when he heard the door to his suite being opened.
He checked his watch and saw that it was only a little after nine, which was seriously early for housekeeping to come through. So he grabbed his laptop and hastened inside to apologize and ask if she could come back later.
But he stopped short as the tall blonde pushed her way into his suite with a tote bag dangling from one hand and a coffee tray clutched in the fingers of her other hand. A key to his suite—his key, he realized—was trapped between her lips.
Sarah hadn't noticed him yet, as she'd shimmied into the room sideways, but as she turned to face him, her eyes flicked up to his and widened. She froze, letting the door slam shut behind her. She mumbled something with the key still in her mouth, and he chuckled, setting his laptop down, closing the distance, and plucking it out. "Thanks," she breathed. "I was saying, um… hi."
"Hi. This is a pleasant surprise."
"Oh. Is it?" she asked, standing there at the door still.
"Yeah," he chirped. "It is." He took her in, the way she was shifting her weight, the tentative look on her face. He tilted his head and furrowed his brow. "Of course it is. I thought maybe you'd gotten up early to go to the Scuba Shack for a shift or something."
"Oh. No, I-I don't work today. I thought I'd just let you sleep and get some breakfast in the meantime, since…um, since I…terrified you awake last night." She winced, that blush back on her face again. "Interrupted your sleep in…the worst way possible. Which…My baaaaad."
It all clicked.
Her unconventional take on role play the night before was still weighing heavily on her mind. And she'd probably hopped out of bed early in the morning with it plaguing her thoughts, and decided to try to do something to make up for it.
As if her antics the night before would ever…could ever make him like her less. If anything he liked her even more now. Somehow. There was no damn way what she'd done last night required any kind of sweet gesture or peace-making, let alone having it scare him away.
Anyway, at worst he'd been terrified to find her towering over him, that look on her face, while he was still half-asleep as she grilled him about whether or not he was working for the CIA. But when he realized she was just attempting role play, something no woman had ever done before with him—in any way, let alone in the way Sarah had attempted it—he'd been two parts turned on, one part heart-warmed. And he could also admit, at least to himself to try to protect her from being even more embarrassed than she still apparently was, that he thought it was pretty damn funny.
She was a total dork. And he was crazy about her.
And he didn't want to say either of those things to her, not wanting her to be offended, or scared of him this time.
He lowered his chin and looked up at her through his eyelashes with a meaningful look on his face. "You didn't have to do that."
The meaning wasn't lost on her.
Sarah pressed her lips together and sighed, a flat look on her face. "I really think I did, though. I gave you an unnecessary scare. Like, cool…try the whole role play thing on the guy but going that hard into it? God, I went about it in a completely wrong way. I…don't know what I was thinking. Like, who in their right mind would think that was hot in any way? Being threatened awake? Wowwww, super sexy," she drawled sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
"Not gonna lie," he said, moving to take the tote from her, as well as the coffees, "Upon really thinking about it, I did, uh, find it pretty sexy. Once I moved past the terror and shock."
She laughed, her cheeks pink. "You're crazy."
"Undeniably." And then he stepped in close and lowered his face just enough to brush her nose with his. "How do you feel about glasses that double as GPS? And, um, a fancy pen that shoots tranq darts?" He wiggled his eyebrows. And then he pulled back and narrowed his eyes. "Is that how this whole role play thing works? I'm not…exactly—I mean I haven't done it before."
"Me neither," she admitted. "So…maybe we can just skip the whole role play thing altogether and get right to the good stuff?"
He saw the hunger in her, even as the embarrassment hadn't entirely left. And he promptly set the food and coffee down, taking her hand and leading her into his bedroom.
}o{
No sound Chuck Bartowski had ever heard in his life was quite as gratifying as the almost desperate whimpering sound Sarah emitted as he broke away from her at the sound of the knock on his suite door. Their lips came apart with a smack and he grinned a bit smugly, which she glared at him for.
But she let him go anyway.
"Don't move. Don't go anywhere," he breathed, rolling out from under the covers they'd been hiding from the world under for at least an hour or more. Save the fifteen seconds or so it took him to sprint into the other room, grab the food and coffee Sarah brought, and take it back to eat in bed together.
He threw a robe on as she flopped back down against his pillows again, looking like the cat who got the cream.
As he tied his robe shut, he whipped his door open and beamed at the housekeeper. "Hi."
"Hello, sir. Would you like me to clean your room? I could come back later if you would like?" She smiled and pushed her cart a bit further down the hallway, as if anticipating his answer. But Chuck knew he needed more toilet paper, he needed clean towels, and more shampoo. He also wanted to dive back into bed with Sarah for another hour. Two hours. He had a certain itch deep inside of him, a need to just be in the same room with her again. Which was a genuine issue. Because he was running out of days in Kauai in which he could actually scratch that itch.
"You know what? Let me grab the dirty towels and, uh, if I could ask you for some clean ones?"
"Of course, sir."
Chuck raced around grabbing towels, bursting through the bedroom and going into the bathroom as Sarah sat up and frowned at him in confusion. He pressed his finger to his lips as he gathered up the bath towels, face towels, and washcloths, but as she opened her mouth to ask him what he was doing, the door was pushed open by the housekeeper.
"Here are your clean towels, sir," she said and Chuck froze, wide-eyed, wincing as he turned to the bed. But Sarah was nowhere to be found.
Holy shit, how'd she do that?
"Th—Thank you. Thanks. Yes! Towels. Clean towels. I, uh, need those. Yes. Thank you. Um, you can just…leave 'em on the, uh, on the—" But as he gestured towards the bed, he saw Sarah, in just her underthings, hiding behind the side of the bed where the housekeeper couldn't see her, waving her arms madly at him and mouthing NO. "Not on the bed! Not on the…maybe just hand 'em to me. I'll take 'em. I can't decide, um, where to put them. Yeah. Ahem."
Not missing a beat, the housekeeper nodded, making to cross to him, but he lunged for her instead and grabbed the towels as she took the dirty ones.
"Oh thank you so much! Thank you!"
"Can I give you anything else? You need more coffee? Cream? Sugar?"
"Uh, no, I'm good on those things. Maybe just another bar of soap. And, uh, and some shampoo. And I'm set." He led her towards the door where her cart awaited and he spun on his heels again. "Ah…um…wallet," he breathed to himself. "Wallet."
"Are you having a good stay, sir?"
"Oh, excellent. Best vacation ever," he said, purposefully raising his voice in the hopes the almost naked woman hiding behind his bed might hear it and take it personally (in a good way).
"Well, you picked the right island."
"You're tellin' me," he drawled, hoping Sarah had heard that too.
"Have you seen the Nā Pali Coast yet? It's the most beautiful part of Hawaii. I am biased. This is my island. But if you can find a way to take a boat around to it, do that." She handed him a handful of soap boxes and shampoos, which he juggled with much less finesse than she had.
"I will, definitely! Thanks for the tip! And speaking—speaking of…tip…" He scrounged through his wallet and gave her a twenty. She grinned and nodded with a thank you, bid him farewell, and pushed her cart down the hallway.
Chuck specifically latched the extra lock on his door after he shut it, scooping up the soap and shampoo he'd had to set down to tip the housekeeper, and he rushed back into the bedroom to find the room still seemingly empty.
"Is it okay to come out now?" came the voice from behind the bed.
"Uh, yeah. All clear."
Her mussed blond hair popped up from behind the bed and she smirked, leaning her arms on the edge of the mattress and propping her chin on them. "Been a while since I've had to hide like that."
Chuck winced. "I'm sorry. I didn't think she'd follow me in here."
She shrugged. "She thought you were alone. Sounded friendly. And she's right about the Nā Pali Coast."
"I've seen pictures. And I know they filmed the Jessica Lange version of King Kong there." He hummed with a closed-mouth smile. "I wasn't as focused on the cinematography in that version, if I'm bein' honest."
She rolled her eyes and giggled, crawling up from her kneeling position behind the bed and flopping onto the mattress instead, slipping back inside the covers, apparently not in a hurry to leave, which was just fine with him. "Jessica Lange fan?"
"Stunning blond women with legs for days fan."
She frowned thoughtfully. "Are you? I didn't notice."
"Really?" He grinned, dumping the soap and shampoo into a nearby chair and sidling up to the side of the bed he'd slept on. "Maybe I need to work on being a little more blatant."
Pursing her lips, she tilted her head a little against the pillow and narrowed her eyes. "Go oooon…"
"Okay."
Laughing, he leapt onto the bed, making her squeal. But before she could roll out of the sheets and dash out of his reach, he snagged her arm and pulled her back, crawling over her and pinning her underneath the covers, hovering directly over her with his palms braced on either side of her, straddling her between his knees.
He leaned down then and pressed his lips to her forehead. The look on her face as he pulled back told him she really hadn't expected it. What she had expected, he wasn't really sure. But when he leaned down and pressed his lips to her neck, there was somewhat of a different response. She craned her neck to catch him in a sudden and passionate kiss, her arms still pinned by the covers at her side.
After a few long moments, she broke the kiss and shifted her head just enough that she was able to clamp her teeth down on his jaw. It wasn't a hard bite, but it still surprised him enough that she'd done it that he gasped and sat back on his haunches.
And that was enough for her to break the bonds of the covers, pull her arms out, grab him, and throw them both to the side.
"Ha!" She chirped triumphantly, sitting up, preening at him as he stared up at her from his back, still totally thrown off by the turn of events.
"You really are extremely strong, you know that? It is very hot," he said emphatically, holding up his pointer finger.
"I can say the same for you, even though right now you kinda look like a turtle that's flipped over onto its shell and can't right itself." She tilted her head and grinned as he glowered at her, letting his limbs go limp and splaying out. "A little better."
"Hey, can I ask you something?"
Her face got a little guarded for a second, before she looked nonchalant again, shrugging. "Sure."
He'd really put her on the spot the night before, he was sure now. And it wasn't just that he'd surprised her by caring about whether or not she felt fulfilled by her life here in Kauai. There was something else but he couldn't put his finger on it. Maybe it was just that she was a more private person, or a Lone Ranger or something. Someone who didn't have a lot of personal conversations, someone who didn't typically delve deep while talking with people.
And now that he'd opened his big stupid mouth, she was going to have a moment of anxiety, wondering what kind of personal freaking crap he might dig for next.
"If…If I wanted to do stuff that was sort of, um, touristy…with my last few days here…would you want to come with me?" He cleared his throat when her eyebrows lifted a little higher. "I mean, I know you have work, we can't help that. But if you have days off in the next five days, I can…work around that. If you want to join me. I'll foot the bill. I know touristy stuff can be expensive."
She gave him a big of a stink-eye then. "I don't need you paying for me."
"No, I didn't mean—I'm not trying to do…that. I don't know what I mean by 'that', even. I just—I'm offering. In case that would be the deterrent. Or maybe—! Maybe you just don't like touristy stuff, and that's cool too. You can tell me. I just wanted to ask. What the housekeeping woman said about the Nā Pali Coast sounded…I mean, I need to see it it. I gotta do it. And I want you to be there." He swallowed hard, watching a softness sweep over her features as she watched him. "Call me crazy," he breathed a bit dreamily.
"I'd like that a lot," she said quietly, and he did a fist pump where he still lay in bed on his back. She giggled. "Wait, there's a trade off, though. I need something from you if I'm going to join you on your adventures. 'Cause I do have a few shifts in the next few days. I am going to try to foist them off on my coworkers the way they've been doing to me all these months," she said drily. "Which requires work, begging, and probably a lot of future favors." She rolled her eyes. "So you have to do something for me, too."
He sat up and stuck his hand out. "Deal."
She laughed. "I didn't even tell you what it is yet!"
"Oh. Sorry. I'm just, like, ninety nine point nine percent certain that I'd be totally okay with whatever it is as long as it means I get to spend more time with you." He gave her his slow grin.
Sarah didn't play coy, she didn't waste time, she didn't even say anything. She just leaned in, cupped his face in both hands, and kissed him solidly. He slipped his hand under the sheets and found her bare hip, stroking his thumb along her hipbone.
She shivered and pulled out of the kiss slowly, pecking his nose, before sitting back again and just smiling at him. He got the message loud and clear. She really liked when he said things like that. Obviously.
"I want to give you surfing lessons."
His eyes popped. "S-surfing? Like in the waves? The big waves?"
She laughed and put her hand on his shin, sneaking under the robe to stroke his calf. Her hand was warm and it felt so good against him. His eyelids fluttered. "We can start on the little waves, Chuck. Don't worry."
"Listen. I saw Blue Crush, Sarah. People who are professionals at surfing fall off and hit their heads on the rocks on the seafloor and people die," he rushed out.
"Okay, wait. Blue Crush…like the movie?"
He felt panicking rise in his chest. "Yeah! She's in that…surfing competition or whatever and she crashes and the wave tosses her around and she bonks her noggin on a rock."
"She does what now?"
"She bonks her—Okay. Whatever." He could see she was teasing him and at the moment, he didn't appreciate it. "I'm just looking out for my brain health. I can't run a successful tech company if I'm brain dead or in a coma or something because I'm a clumsy idiot who fell off of a surfboard."
"Whoa, whoa… Okay, Chuck. Hold on."
She slipped her hands to his shoulders and then gently rubbed the juncture between his shoulders and neck comfortingly. God, how did that work so well? He felt so much better suddenly. She crawled up closer and knelt there in front of him, and he couldn't help but look when the sheet fell. Despite the slightly bemused look on her face, she didn't seem to mind much when she caught him staring. But he knew there was a line, so he fastened his eyes on her face very solidly after getting a good, quick look.
"I'm not going to take you somewhere too deep. I won't take you out where I wait for waves. You'll be on little ones. And if you lose your balance, you hop off. You're, like, six foot four. It'll be where you can stand easily enough. And I have a spot I know of where there are no rocks on the seafloor. So you don't have to worry about a Blue Crush reenactment. Okay?"
He swallowed hard. "You're gonna be out there with me?"
Sarah seemed to melt as she nodded. "Yeah. C'mon, Chuck. I wanna teach you. It'll be fun. I promise. And there's no better feeling than when you stand up on your board for the first time and the wave carries you all the way in. I don't know if there is a better feeling than that."
Chuck pursed his lips and raised an eyebrow, and she gave him a look like she realized the door she'd opened for him. He was going through it anyway, even if she knew what was coming. And he leaned in to lightly press a kiss to the underside of her jaw, then down her neck. She tilted her head to the side to give him better access and he grinned, sliding his hand over her thigh and squeezing. "You sure about that?"
She sighed. "I just said I don't know if there is…" And then she gasped and grabbed him as he tried to lean her back and help her make up her mind on the subject. "Nah ah! No. I need my answer first. Do we have a deal? I'll take care of you, Chuck. You know I will."
He sat back and folded his hands in his lap. "I'm not gonna try to hide it, Sarah, the whole idea of being out there in the waves on a board scares me a lot."
"I know."
"If I say no, will you not go to the Nā Pali Coast with me?"
She pouted a little at the purposely sad tone of voice he used. "If you say no, I'm still going. I'll just be disappointed, that's all."
Ah, so he supposed two could play at his game. Damn, she was good at it, too. He was impressed. Her eyes were somehow bluer and a little watery, her lips so cute and pouty, her hair mussed.
"Holy shit, you're good. God damn it, I can't." She actually didn't look genuinely disappointed. "I can't say no to you." She perked up, a small smile growing on her face. "Let's do it. I'll do my best! I can't promise that I'll get it, but I'll try."
Sarah pounced on him, throwing her arms around his shoulders and hugging him tight as he laughed, cradling her close, their limbs a tangled mess with each other and with the sheets winding between them. "I know you're nervous, but it's gonna be okay. You'll have fun. I promise."
"I'm sure I will," he chuckled.
But his robe was untying, falling away, and he felt her skin against his, so soft and smooth, and the taut muscle underneath that…
Just as his hand got a mind to wander, she pulled out of his embrace. "Okay, I need to make some calls and pawn my next three shifts off to my people." But she didn't get much farther than to the end of the bed because Chuck didn't let her. He held tight to her hand and gave her a significant look. She blinked at him. "Chuck, I have to get my phone…"
"You can do that later," he said slowly, his voice a bit deeper than usual.
"…Maybe I can do that later."
She crawled back to him as he got rid of the robe, and she didn't end up making those phone calls until much, much later.
}o{
Chuck was trying to bite back the terror as best he could as they walked in the side door of the Scuba Shack. Or maybe he could just fold his hands behind his back so that nobody could see him shaking, least of all Alexei.
He didn't know why, but his brain had sort of slotted Alexei into that father of the woman he was crazy about role, even though that wasn't even remotely the type of relationship Sarah had with her boss.
And he didn't want Sarah's not-dad thinking he was a complete and utter wimp.
Speak of the devil, the tall Brit strode down the hallway towards them as Sarah tried to pull Chuck towards the racks of surfboards in the room beside the main lobby. He stopped in his tracks and beamed.
"Well, well! Fancy meeting you two here. Hello, Charles ol' boy."
Chuck took the hand offered and got a hearty shake out of it, as well as a hard thump on the back. "Hi, Alexei. Good to see you again."
"Majestic, my boy. What's this? What's happening here?"
Sarah was rummaging around in a desk. "I'm giving Chuck surfing lessons, but I need the right board for him."
"Surfing lessons!" Alexei looked completely surprised and Chuck couldn't help but blush. "Well! I'm proud of you, Charles. Taking life by the horns." He mimicked grabbing horns in front of him. "It must be difficult for you. What with your nerves about scuba diving two weeks ago."
"Pfft. No. Totally—not. I'm—No. Not at—Two totally different things," he said, making a face and shrugging as nonchalantly as possible. "Just a couple a tiny little waves and a board. Heh. Completely different."
"That's the ticket." Alexei winked.
Chuck was careful not to look in Sarah's direction. He was embarrassed. She knew he was acting a part for her boss. She knew he was freaking out about it, and she got a front row seat to a bit of playacting. Oh God, what if she thought it was machismo or something?
Oh God, it was machismo.
But if it worked on Alexei, he could handle Sarah's teasing later.
"Wasn't that hard to convince him," Sarah said, sending Chuck a look that was definitely teasing, if only a little bit. She was still backing him up anyway.
"Well, yeah, no, of course not. Alexei, have you seen the pouting puppy dog look she's got in her arsenal? It's potent."
Alexei Volkoff laughed. "I'm sure it is."
"I don't know what you're even talking about. I don't have a pouty puppy dog look," Sarah lied, rummaging through the papers on the desk.
"Um, false. You do. And it was just used on me a few hours ago."
"I don't know what you're talking about. That's all I can say," she said, giving him an innocent look.
Alexei just chuckled, shaking his head at her as Chuck gave her a flat look, amused by her antics.
"By the way, congratulations are in order, Charles. You're the first thing that's brought Sarah Walker in to work on her day off," Alexei joked, nudging his shoulder with a fist.
"Shut up," Sarah groused, a blush on her face as she looked over her shoulder.
"Just the truth. That's all. Well, and the hurricane. You and the hurricane made Sarah come in to work on her day off."
"So what you're saying is, I'm like…a human hurricane. That's kind of cool. Thank you, Sarah." He grinned at her as she narrowed her eyes, slowly turning to face him. And then he realized belatedly that she held his fate in her hands. God, she knew it too. She was smart. She knew exactly what she had on him in this very moment, and oh God, he could see in her face that he'd pressed his luck too far. She wasn't his ally anymore.
"Where are the sign-out forms?"
Chuck blinked. She didn't do it. She didn't tell Alexei how terrified Chuck was about these surfing lessons, how he was practically shaking in the car on the way to the Scuba Shack. He knew she'd noticed it because she'd reached over to put her hand on his shoulder and then she'd rubbed his arm reassuringly, comfortingly.
She could've just outed him as a big huge wimp, punishment for teasing her too much, and she didn't.
He didn't know why it meant so much to him that Alexei not know his soul-deep fear about this surfing lesson. But it did. And he wanted to kiss her right at this moment for keeping his pride safe. He just smiled at her instead and she met his gaze, a knowing look on her face.
Chuck stuck that in his pocket for later. He owed her. And he was done teasing, at least for the time being.
"Don't worry about it for now. Give him this one," Alexei said then, walking past Chuck into the room and going to one of the boards. It was dark blue with a lighter blue and white sort of camouflage pattern, long and sturdy-looking. And a little scratched up in places. A well-loved board, Chuck imagined.
"What?! Alexei, that's your favorite board," Sarah reasoned, furrowing her brow. She looked legitimately shocked.
"I know. Exactly. Perfect for a tall, strong fellow like my friend Charles." He shifted the board from where it leaned and thrust it into Chuck's hands. "You ride her well, my boy," he growled.
Chuck narrowed his eyes and pressed his lips together as he looked at Sarah.
She choked a little and spun back to the desk, ducking her head. At least she didn't laugh, he supposed.
"I will…definitely try, sir." He cleared his throat. "Thanks for letting me use your favorite board."
"Nonsense. She's perfect for you." He patted the board with his hand fondly.
"Ugh, seriously, where are the forms?"
Chuck leaned the board against the nearby wall and walked over to her. "How much is a board rental?"
"We charge twenty-five a day, but—"
He went into his wallet and grabbed a twenty and a five, putting them down on the desk. "There."
"What? Charles, no. You aren't—" Alexei tried.
"Oh, yes I am. No way am I letting you guys give me a free surfboard rental and lesson. Not gonna happen. I already got a free boat trip."
Alexei widened his eyes and sent an amused look at Sarah who looked extremely sheepish. "Did you?"
Oops. Shit.
"Um. My sister paid for it as a late birthday gift. So. Technically free for me. Not my sister."
Sarah put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed. "I appreciate the attempt, Chuck. Yeah, Alexei, I took him out to a little cave Gina told me about and we had lunch." And slept with each other in one of the bunks belowdecks. But that was something Chuck would absolutely keep to himself.
Alexei just laughed. "You all think you're so good at hiding your extra little trips from me. It amuses me greatly." Sarah's eyes widened. "Don't tell them I know. Kai and I do it, too. The fuel always ends up exactly where it was before you crazy kids take your side trips. Trust me, I check."
And then he leaned past Chuck and snatched up the money Chuck set there. "But on second thought, I will take this after all." He winked at Chuck and then poked him in the chest teasingly. "Good work, Charles. Good work."
As Alexei left the room, Chuck wasn't really sure what the older man was referring to when he said 'good work', and he spun to ask Sarah.
"I really don't know," she said, holding up a hand, as if she knew what was on the edge of his lips. "Sometimes I just have to pretend I do."
"Do you think he knows what, uh, what we did on that boat?" he asked under his breath.
She winced. "He probably does."
"That's… No, thank you."
"Uhhhh yeah. Agreed." Then she moved up onto her tiptoes and kissed him right under his ear. "One hundred percent worth it, though," she muttered into his ear. She pecked him on the jaw and then reared back again, a slow, satisfied smirk on her face. "C'mon, my strong, tall fellow. Get your strong, tall man board and let's get out of here before something else mortifying happens."
Little did she know, the mortification was going to be rolling in tenfold once she saw how God awful he was at surfing. Tenfold.
}o{
She grabbed the board and shoved it up under his arm more, shifting his fingers so that they were in the center of the board. "There. Hold it like that. Easier?"
"Oh, hey! Yes! It is!"
Giggling, she shook her head and pulled her hair up into a high bun, then she grabbed her own board and stuck it under her arm. "Ready?"
"Absolutely not."
She grinned and led the way, leaving her car parked against the side of the road. They had to walk along a barely-there path through thick foliage to get to the sand, and he was surprised by the lack of people around for how lovely the spot was.
Maybe it really was just a special spot she'd found herself. Or maybe Kai or one of her coworkers told her about it. Or the sexist surfer. If it was him, that was probably the only good thing she got out of that whole situation. Because this place was nuts.
The water was an incredible aqua color further out, and less so where the waves were coming in. But she was right about the waves being smaller.
"Tide isn't so bad today," she said over her shoulder. "I'll go in and check it just to make sure, don't worry."
"I can't figure out if you're teasing me or not, but will you really do that? Could you?"
She giggled, her eyes a brighter blue in the sun. And then she set her board down in the sand and nodded. "Yeah. I'll go check it now."
Sarah unbuttoned her shorts and let them fall to her ankles, revealing her green bikini bottoms as she stepped out of them and folded them neatly off to the side. Then she pulled her camisole shirt off and dropped it on her shorts. Chuck belatedly turned his head to stare out at the Pacific Ocean instead of ogling.
But before she could trot off to the water, he remembered how she purposely missed the opportunity to get a dig in earlier in the Scuba Shack, how she neglected to shame him in front of Alexei, when she could've. She was well within her rights too after he'd teased her so hard.
Chuck reached out and grabbed her wrist as she moved towards the water and held on. She sent him a curious look. He could just kiss her and leave her perplexed as to what she'd done to deserve it. Or he could just be candid with her. Honest. He chose honesty.
"Thanks for not outing me as a total wimp to Alexei earlier, Sarah. I teased you quite a bit and probably deserved it."
She pulled her chin back and furrowed her brow, turning to face him and slipping her wrist out of his grip so that she could hold his hand instead. "Why would I do that just because of a little harmless teasing? You didn't even tease me that bad. It was minor flirtation, and I liked it."
He was so confused. "I think I just don't understand…like, anything. Or maybe I just wasn't prepared for you to be so…you. I mean, I dunno. You're great." He shook his head. "I have no idea what I'm even saying. I didn't know people like you existed, I guess, is what I'm saying."
"Well…" She sidled up close to him, her free hand lightly landing on his chest. "Here I am."
"Yeeeaah," he drawled dreamily, a slow crooked smile tilting at his mouth. "Still. Thanks for keeping my secret. I'm admittedly a little embarrassed you were there to see me frontin' for Alexei. But it felt bad enough he saw me on the boat two weeks ago, scared outta my mind."
"He's Alexei. He wouldn't judge you either way. That's not how he is. Anyway, why do you care what he thinks?" she asked after just watching him for a long ten seconds or so. "He's just the guy who owns the Scuba Shack."
Chuck winced. "Well, he's your boss. Crap, it isn't that. It's not just that. You care about him. I-I mean, he's kind of, like, looking out for you…erm…"
"Is this about when he took you aside and did the whole Protective Uncle act at you a few days ago after you brought us food while we were cleaning up the Shack after the hurricane? Is that what all this is?" She raised her eyebrows.
He winced again, then sighed and shrugged. "I mean, it probably is. Yes. Now that you mention it." He cleared his throat, knowing he was blushing, feeling pretty sheepish as he glanced off towards the water again. "Um… I just don't wanna look like a total loser in front of him. Because his opinion seems like it's…important to you."
"Chuck," she mumbled, stepping in close so that their chests pressed together. She let go of his hand and reached up to loosely wrap her arms around his neck. She was smiling quietly. "You're incredibly cute, you know that? Like, seriously." He blushed harder, feeling embarrassed. "I'm gonna smack Alexei for doing that to you. I really am."
"No, don't smack 'im. He cares about you. He's protective. I like that there's…" He cleared his throat. "I mean, that you have someone like that in your life." He felt her arms tighten a bit around him, her whole body pressed against his. "I just overthink stuff. And try as I might, I can't…stop."
She sighed, catching his gaze, squinting a little in the sun. "If that's your biggest flaw, Chuck Bartowski…" She broke into a grin. "But you're welcome for not ratting you out to Alexei. I don't think his opinion should matter that much to you, but the fact that it does is really sweet."
And then she kissed him.
He wasn't sure how long it lasted, but she managed to get his shirt off of him in the meantime. The day was a little humid and they both had sunscreen all over their bodies, so it shouldn't have been such a pleasant experience, standing there in the sun, pressed together, hands wandering. But it was. It was very pleasant.
And he made a quiet whimpering sound when she put a stop to it. She pulled out of the kiss but kept their bodies close, her arms still around his shoulders, fingers playing with his hair just over the nape of his neck.
He saw amusement in her stunning features. "And you should know that you've definitely worked a little magic on Alexei Volkoff, Chuck, because he absolutely loves you." Chuck gave her a dubious look. "No, I'm serious. Especially ever since you came to the Shack with the food. The other day, he was fiddling with one of his many toys and he asked me if I thought you'd want to come help him with it. He said 'I bet Charles would know how to make this work.'"
Chuck blushed. "I could help him with it."
She shook her head vehemently. "No. He doesn't get you. You're only here for a few more days and that time is mine." The small pout on her face, and the mischievous sparkle in her eyes, coupled with what she'd just said, the slight possessiveness in it. She was really skilled at making him feel good. Better than anyone he'd ever met. "But what really sealed the deal was today."
"Today?"
Sarah pulled back a little and pointed at the board he'd put down next to hers. "That right there."
"Oh. Yeah, that was really nice of him, letting me use his favorite board."
"Nice?" He turned back to her and blinked, shrugging. She let out a short chuckle and shook her head. "Chuck, I don't think you understand. Alexei doesn't let people use that board. Customers don't get it. None of us have ever used it. Because it's his board." Chuck swallowed hard and looked down at the board again, eyes wide. "When I was first hired at the Scuba Shack, I was specifically warned by Zeki and Gina not to take that board out."
His eyes widened then and he muttered, "It's a trap."
She laughed and shook her head. "It's not a trap, Chuck."
"He's testing me." He turned his wide eyes back on her. "Oh my God! Sarah, he's totally testing me!" She rolled her eyes, pressing her lips together in amusement. "He gave me his favorite board to use because he wants to see if I can take care of precious things! It's you, Sarah! The board is you!"
"What?" She gave him a pure what the fuck look, laughing at him.
"Yep! Like you said, he gave me the whole Protective Uncle shtick. He's still doing it. He gave me his board to use so that if I break it or lose it, he'll know he can't trust me with you."
"I'm not a surfboard, Chuck. I get to decide who to trust with my time and effort, and who not to trust." She put it so simply and bluntly, and he felt absolutely ridiculous suddenly. "That is a surfboard," she emphasized, pointing at it. Then she pointed at herself. "I'm a human being."
He winced hard. "Shit. I know. I went overboard, maybe." She gave him a look. "Definitely. I definitely went overboard and got a little insulting. I'm sorry. I apologize. Although, there's a slight chance he gave me his board to use knowing you'd tell me the significance of the gesture. And he was testing me to see if I'd say something completely fucking stupid and embarrass myself and be a whole mess in front of you, and I failed that test miserably." He sent her a slightly teasing smile and ducked his head, looking up at her through his eyelashes.
Sarah giggled and reached up to ruffle his hair. "You are a whole mess, but it's weirdly attractive. Maybe something's wrong with me."
"To quote someone whose words of wisdom and opinion are both very important to me, 'If that's your biggest flaw, Sarah Walker…'"
She barked out a laugh and backed towards the water. "I like you."
"Am I forgiven for making you sound like you're a surfboard?" he asked as she kept moving towards the waves.
Sarah grinned at him. "You are. I promise you, it's just that Alexei likes you a lot."
He nodded and watched her wade into the water, before diving under a wave like she'd done it a million times before.
}o{
"Chuck, it's okay," Sarah giggled as he looked up at her from where he lay on his back in the sand, a stricken look on his face.
She was teaching him on land first, letting him get the hang of pushing himself up from lying on his stomach on the board to standing, teaching him where on the board his feet needed to go for best balance, how far apart they should be, and which way he should face.
Sarah counted down from three and he popped up to his feet quickly enough, but the sand on the bottom of his heels made one of them slip on the smooth surface of the board, and the banana peel phenomenon had nothing on the way his legs flew up in the air. He'd landed hard on his back beside the board.
"Are you okay? Can you still breathe?" she asked, crawling down onto her knees next to him.
"Do they make wetsuits with bubble wrap?" he asked, nodding that he was okay.
She laughed, then climbed to her feet, grabbing his hand and giving him a tug to help him back up again. "You're adorable. No, they don't. And anyway, you're still in the learning stages, bud. You don't even need a wetsuit for this. The most I'm gonna make you do is go out where…" She squinted out in the afternoon sun and pointed to a kid on a boogie board. "See that kid? That far."
The young family had been the only other people who showed up in the hour or so since they'd parked Sarah's car and trudged into the beach.
"Oh. Oh! That's it?"
She laughed. "Yeah. That's it. See? You freaked out over nothing."
"That's my middle name. Something you need to learn about me if you plan on hanging out with me, Sarah. Chuck Freaked-Out-Over-Nothing Bartowski. It's on my birth certificate."
"Is Cute-As-Hell also on your birth certificate?" she asked with a straight face.
"They were going to make that my first name but they didn't, for fear it'd get me bullied in school so they opted for Charles, or Chuck, which isn't much better."
Laughing, she reached up and ruffled the hair at the back of his head, getting the sand out. "There. Try it again. And after a few more goes at this, I'll take you out."
"Oooo! We gonna do Italian again? Or maybe sushi this time?"
"Shut up and get on your stomach, you dork," she groused, giggling and pointing him to the board.
"You do hear it, don't you? All the sexual innuendo in surfing?"
"Stop," she drawled, smirking. He got down on his stomach and positioned himself properly on the board. "Practice your paddling."
"See?"
She cracked up. "I hate you right now. You're going to ruin this for me, I swear to God. And now I'll think about it every single time."
"Ride the wave?" He kept going. "I mean, come on."
"I'm going to kick your ass if you don't stop."
"Backdoor?"
She smacked the back of his head and he laughed.
A few minutes later, she hoisted her board up under her arm, fixing her bikini top, he noticed, and he let himself wonder how in the hell she felt secure enough in the skimpy bikini to do such strenuous surfing stuff. It was impressive, and he wasn't complaining in the slightest.
But really, like…how did that stuff stay on?
He sighed and looked out at the water. "Sarah, I have an admission. Before we go too deep into this." She gave him a curious look, a bit of tentativeness to it. "I've never been surfing before in my life. Never even held a surfboard. I don't know shit about it. Even that backdoor thing I said… I got it from Googling surf tips in the car on the way here."
There was an inkling of amusement on her face at his faux serious joking. But then she played along with him like a champ. "Wait a minute. You mean to tell me the guy who came to me with a debilitating fear of the ocean can't surf? I'm shocked! And offended!"
She giggled as he grinned.
"In all seriousness, though, Chuck, I specifically picked this beach because it's calmer and usually pretty chill on the amount of people who come here."
"Genius, Sarah. Less people for me to embarrass myself in front of."
Her laughter preceded pushing him towards the water. "Come on. Pick up the board. Let's go."
He nodded and went to scoop up the board. "No but really, all my overthinking aside, would Alexei murder me if I hurt his favorite board?"
There was a long pause. And then. "No, I'm sure he wouldn't."
Chuck froze and turned slowly to look at her. She just strode right past him to the water and he followed her with his stricken gaze. "You waited way too long to answer that."
She grinned over her shoulder with her tongue between her teeth.
"That's messed up," he grumbled, following after her.
But then she spun on her heel before she reached the water and came right back to him. He stopped, wondering what she was doing. He figured it out when she went onto her tiptoes and kissed him. It wasn't a long kiss. Just quick and emphatic.
And when she pulled back, she beamed at him. "There. For good luck. Keeps the sharks away."
"Okay, great, well bye!" He turned to leave altogether as she cracked up and grabbed him, yanking him towards the water as he chuckled.
As they started wading out slowly, he asked, "So do you give scuba lessons and surf lessons?" She smiled but didn't answer, putting her board down in the water and splashing it, smoothing her hand back and forth over the surface. He did the same, not really sure what he was doing, but she was doing it so… "I guess what I'm asking is, how much is this going to cost me? I'm staying in a fancy hotel, I know, but I'm not made of money."
Sarah giggled.
He wasn't entirely prepared for her to kiss him again, slow and, dare he think it, calculated. She leaned over her board to do it, too. She pulled back just as slowly, patting his chest a few times. "We'll discuss form of payment later."
And then she pulled back and moved further into the waves as he stared at her, lips still pursed, her words clanging about in his brain loudly as he blinked rapidly.
"Chuck? …Hey. Chuck."
He jumped and shook his head. "Wah—Huh? What? Sorry, I, erm…"
"I'm trying to teach you to surf, here."
"Well, I'm so sorry," he said, following her, holding onto the board as a wave surged past them. It was only up to his upper thighs at this point. "But you can't just say something like that to a person and then tra la la along like it isn't gonna break their brain."
She laughed. "I don't recall tra la laing at any point throughout this process."
"Yeah, well…" he grumbled, smiling at her to let her knew he was teasing. Or was he flirting? Was this flirting? Sure. He was flirting. "So I have to admit, I'm a little bummed I don't get an oxygen tank for this."
Smiling in amusement, she shook her head. "You won't need one because we'll be sitting on our boards above the water. There's plenty of oxygen out here." She waved her hand around. "Come on, a bit further out. The waves are too small to pick you up right here."
"Are you calling me fat?"
She gave him a flat look. "C'mere."
He guided the board along with him until he felt a bit of panic rising, feeling the waves pick his feet up off of the floor a bit with their strength. Sarah must've seen it on his face when she glanced at him over her shoulder, because she doubled back quickly.
"We can stop here. Here is fine," she said quickly. And he appreciated her tact, even though he saw right through it. She was sweet. And it set him at ease a bit.
"Thank you," he breathed as she moved in close so that they were mere inches away. She just smiled wordlessly.
"Okay, so this is the part where we get up on our boards. Usually you'd get on the board right when you get in the water and paddle out, but we're doing it different today." For him, he knew. He watched closely—very closely—as she lifted herself out of the water and swung one leg over to straddle her board. "There. Easy."
"It's like getting on a horse!" he exclaimed.
"Sure! Do you ride horses?"
"Nope."
She threw her head back with a laugh.
She laughed harder as he fumbled a bit, trying to clamber up onto the slippery board. It wobbled and tipped more than he'd thought it would.
"Laughing at me? Really?" He finally pulled himself on, holding his hands out to steady himself as he straddled the board and let out a relieved sigh. Then he glared a little at her as she tried to stymie it with a hand. "Just for that, you're not getting a tip." The look he got for that was absolutely salacious. And it took him a second to put two and two together. "You're an absolute horndog, oh my God!"
Sarah cackled, rocking forward. She draped her chest on her board and folded her arms on it so that she could prop her chin on her wrist, widening her eyes innocently and grinning.
"Don't give me that cute freaking look. You're terrible," he chuckled.
"Now we wait for a bit," she said, sitting up and squinting behind her at the sun that was still a bit above the water line. "We've got plenty of light even after the sun sets and it won't be gone for at least a half hour."
"Ah. Okay. So…what? We sit? We just sit here?"
"Mhm. Just enjoy."
Her eyes slipped shut and she angled her face back to the sky. Chuck took her in for a bit and then turned to look out at the vivid blue horizon. It occurred to him there were people out there now, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Sailing for fun, or fishermen earning their living. He imagined what it must be like out there, and he tried his best not to think about how he'd fared out there, much further north than this… There'd been a storm, a bad one…
Shaking his head, he turned back and feasted on the sight of beautiful dry land. It was still incredibly close. Close enough that he could ride any one of these nice, small waves in.
This was safe. Sarah was right.
And he needed to keep that terrible day out of his mind. Also the movie Blue Crush.
And basically anything else about the ocean killing and/or maiming people.
He'd be fine.
This was fine.
Sarah was here and he was totally fine.
A/N: If y'all don't think Canon Sarah was a total sexual innuendo enthusiast and mastermind, what show were you even watching? I ask you.
Hope you're all well and safe, what with the pandemic still happening even though people are pretending it's over. Thanks for reading, and if you've got the energy and time, please review. Those reviews help a lot. Thanks, folks!
-SC