A/N: Remember it's me….shenanigans are eminent.
Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck
A short bearded man sits down in the interview chair. "I'm surprised you didn't ask me to be here earlier, but I'm here now."
Producer. "Who are you?"
"Right, I'm Morgan Grimes, Chuck's heterosexual life partner."
Producer. "I think you misunderstand. No one asked you to be here.
Morgan laughs, and waves his hand as if it was a joke. "I know there are a lot of questions…questions only I can answer." He gets a very serious look on his face. "It's the question of who is Chuck's best friend."
The camera cuts to Chuck sitting in the chair, looking uncomfortable. "He did what?" Chuck lowers his head, and smacks the top of his head with his hand.
The camera cuts back to Morgan. "I mean, let's be honest, we all have different stages of life and people, and we…experiment."
The camera cuts back to Chuck, watching a tablet that appears to be Morgan. "Oh, God," he groaned.
The camera cuts back to Chuck. "Obviously in college, you sometimes…experiment." There is the sound of a pained grunt off camera. "You meet people…multiple people, and you…try things, but in the end, you come back to your true partner."
Camera cuts back to Chuck, watching the tablet with a pained expression on his face. He looks up at the camera, pain on his face. "He doesn't even hear himself, does he?"
Back to Morgan. "Sure, there was Bryce…and Zondra…it was college, and they were both his best friend…"
Back to Chuck. He doesn't say anything. He just sits there, a pained expression on his face.
Back to Morgan. "People experiment in college. But," he paused and looked directly into the camera. "He came back to me, his heterosexual life partner. I'm his rock, I'm his best friend. Just ask him."
Back to Chuck. He looks at the camera, terror on his face. "If I say Morgan is my best friend, can this segment end?" Chuck looks at someone off camera, and then turns and looks directly into the camera. "It's Morgan."
The camera goes to Sarah who is watching presumably the same thing on the tablet that Chuck was. She looks up at the camera, laughing. "Do I have something to worry about?"
}o{
Chuck was sitting at his desk, looking over the numbers…the same numbers he had looked over yesterday. He let out a sigh, clicked a button to see the security footage for the parking lot, and saw Zondra's car wasn't in the parking lot yet.
He had created a media empire that no one thought he could. He had brought his friends and family along, and that was the best part of it all. He was doing what he enjoyed, with the people he loved…but he was bored. He only produced one show now, C to Z and Everything in Between. Lou literally took care of all the business side of things, and he really wasn't needed. He had built his company perfectly. He had hired all the right people.
Carina and Zondra made producing the show a breeze. They always had ideas about what they wanted to talk about. They did a lot of their own research. Chuck was basically the third member of the cast and from time to time would coax them in the direction they needed to go, but at this point the three of them were a well oiled machine.
He had been thinking for a while of branching off into producing television, and while it wasn't the same thing, he was ready for the challenge. He wanted the CIA Network to be more than just podcasts, and they were to some extent. Most of their shows were on YouTube so they had some television production experience, but he wanted to be a part of a TV show.
He checked the parking lot again, and saw Zondra's car was there. He let out a long sigh. He knew she would be around, he knew she was there for him at a phone call or text, but working with Zondra nearly every day…he enjoyed seeing his best friend.
He was being mopey and he shouldn't be mopey. Zondra was right, he should probably date. He thought back to his last session with Dr Dreyfus.
}o{
"Chuck," Dreyfus began. "You're in your twenties, you're successful, you're a wonderful young man, why are you not dating?"
"I don't know," Chuck replied, sitting on the couch, staring at his hands. "I'm…I don't know."
"Are you taking your anxiety meds?" Dreyfus asked. Chuck, confused, looked up at Dreyfus. Chuck nodded, not sure what was going on. "Chuck, be honest with me, what goes through your mind when you go out on a date?"
"Why is she with me?" Chuck blurted out. Dreyfus nodded. "Is she with me, because of who I am? Is she with me because I have money? Is she with me…does she…does she even like me like that?"
"It's the anxiety, Chuck," Dreyfus reminded him. Chuck nodded. "I know you know that, and you do so well with it, in every aspect of your life…except your dating life."
"I mean, I'm good at what I do Doc," Chuck replied, shrugging.
"You're exceptional, Chuck," Dreyfus corrected. "And you have the bonafides to make your anxiety shut up."
"Then I guess the question I need to ask is how do I get the bonafides to make my anxiety shut up about women?" Chuck asked, looking over at Dreyfus.
Dreyfus was silent for a second. "You need someone who cares for you…love you even…and you need to believe them."
"Kind of a catch-22, huh?"
"You have to take a chance, Chuck," Dreyfus told him. "Maybe have someone you trust set you up with someone."
"That's how I met Jill…and her," Chuck grumbled.
}o{
"Hey, you okay?" he heard Zondra ask, pulling him out of his thoughts. Chuck looked up and saw Zondra and smiled at her. "There he is."
"How are you, did everything go okay?" Chuck asked quickly.
"Oh, very well," Zondra said, a slight grin on her face. "I just realized you've never met my friend, and soon to be boss, Sarah Walker." Zondra turned toward the doorway, looking at someone out of Chuck's sight. A woman that Chuck would recognize anywhere, stepped through the doorway.
Chuck shot up suddenly, catching his leg on the desk, making a loud sound from the contact. "YEOWCH!" he bellowed. Sarah couldn't help the snicker coming out of her mouth as Chuck limped around.
"Are you okay?" Sarah asked, trying not to laugh.
"Nothing hurt but my pride," Chuck replied. His eyes went wide as he realized what he said and Zondra looked away, trying to hold back laughter.
"Well, we've all done things, haven't we?" Sarah said to try and take the embarrassment out of the picture. Chuck gave her a smile, but she knew that she really hadn't done much. She had seen Chuck at an embarrassing moment, and she had said she had one, but really hadn't shown him anything.
"You don't let anyone in, Sarah." Those were the words of Cole, echoing in her head.
"A few months ago, I was walking on the beach near my house and a baby seal was on land, by itself. I became worried about him," Sarah found herself saying. Zondra turned to her, listening intently, but Sarah didn't really notice Zondra, just the two brown orbs of the man with curly hair standing in front of her.
"You can't just leave a baby seal on land, there's no telling what might happen," Chuck replied.
"Right?" Sarah answered. Zondra looked from Chuck to Sarah and realized she might as well not even be there. Zondra couldn't help the smile that was on her face. "So, I went over to help it." She looked a bit bashful, and glanced down at her hand. "It bit me," she said, holding out her hand.
Chuck rushed over and took it, not thinking at all about the fact that hand was attached to Sarah Walker, or that she just showed him the injury. It was mostly healed, but he could see the faint traces of the skin, where it had bitten her. "Did it get infected or anything?" Chuck asked, looking up at her, still holding her hand gently. "My sister and brother-in-law are doctors and they can look at it if you want them too."
"Chuck, she has access to medical care, buddy," Zondra told him gently. Chuck nodded, and winced a little at Sarah. Sarah grinned at him. "What she doesn't have access is to her hand right now." She looked pointedly at Sarah's hand still held gently by Chuck.
"Huh?" He looked down at her hand, his eyes widened and he let go quickly. "I'm so sorry," he blurted out.
"It's fine," Sarah said, grinning at him. "So, what's it going to take to let me have her."
"I don't own Zondra," Chuck told her. He grinned. "No one owns Zondra."
"Oh God," Zondra groused.
"But, I DO have a condition about Zondra being on your show," Chuck told Sarah, a slow smirk growing on his face.
The grin from Sarah's face was gone, and even Zondra looked a little surprised. "Let's hear it," Sarah said.
"You do have craft services, I assume?" Sarah nodded. "I need you to make sure she doesn't have any type of dairy." Sarah looked confused and glanced over at Zondra.
"I'm sure he's just trying to make a joke-" Zondra began.
"See, she's not lactose intolerant, but she is lactose unhappy," Chuck cut in. Sarah turned back to Chuck, intrigued. "It makes her gassy, and I know she doesn't like to show weakness, but…her gas is awful."
"Okay, that's enough," Zondra said, swatting him on the shoulder. Chuck turned to her, and the two locked eyes. He reached into his pocket, never breaking their stare. "What are you doing?"
"Pulling out my phone," Chuck told her. Zondra glanced over to Sarah and then back to Chuck. "Last chance," he said softly. He opened his phone, looked down, and began to tap on it.
"You screen shot that?" she hissed. Chuck looked up at her. "How could you?"
"You know exactly why I did, not to shame you, not to make fun of you, but to protect you from yourself," Chuck told her. He waited a second, shrugged, and went back to the phone.
"Fine, he's right," Zondra told Sarah. Sarah noticed Chuck shut his phone and put it back in his pocket. "I have…some issues, and I don't like to admit when I can't do something."
"Shocking," Sarah said flatly, making Zondra laugh. "I notice that Chuck put his phone away."
"Yeah, he's not out to embarrass me," Zondra said with a shrug.
"Hmm," Sarah hummed and turned to Chuck. "So, I hear you also do some television producing." Chuck nodded. "I could use some help on this project."
"What?" Chuck asked, a bit stunned. "Listen, thank you, but…I couldn't. I have so much to do here." Sarah looked over at Zondra, who was grinning. Sarah looked back at Chuck, amusement on her face. "I feel like I'm missing something."
"It's just Zondra said you'd say that exact thing," Sarah told him with a shrug. "She also said it wasn't true and that you'd say that because while you do want to do more TV producing you wouldn't want to mess up our show." Sarah grinned. "The thing is, when I pressed her on you not wanting to mess up our show, if it was because it would upset her, or me, she went silent."
Chuck stood there, not sure what to say. Luckily he was saved at the last minute by Lou walking in. "Here's what you asked for Zondra," Lou said, grinning as she handed Zondra a folder.
"What's that?" Chuck asked.
"The three deals you're going to want to do," Lou said with a shrug. "I know you boss."
"You cannot know," Chuck argued, accepting the folder Zondra handed to him. Chuck opened it, looked at it, saw Lou had picked the three sponsorships he was going to, and shut it. "Okay, that's a little odd."
"Chuck, we all know you want to do more, so go do it," Lou encouraged him. "Trust me, we can make it all work just fine."
"Chuck," Sarah said, moving towards him, and putting her hand on his bicep. He turned and they locked eyes. "This is important to me, for reasons I can't really get in to, but I need the best. That's why I got Zondra, and she promises me you are the best."
"Well," Chuck began.
"Please," she said simply. She held out her hand. "Join the team."
"Okay," Chuck replied, and shook her hand. Their eyes locked as they both felt it. They had no idea what it was, but felt it they did. "So I'm on team Sarah huh?"
"Paussie Productions," Sarah told him.
"I have a stipulation," Chuck told her. She rolled her eyes. Zondra and Lou both noticing their hands still interlocked. "I get to interview you at some point, and you can reject any question you wish." She gave him a look. "It's to promote the show! I want you and Zondra to succeed."
"Our show," Sarah corrected.
"Let him ask you one question now," Zondra encouraged Sarah. "And how long are you two gonna shake hands?"
Both of them dropped the other's hand, looking a little embarrassed. "One question," Sarah said, trying to compose herself.
"Was there any other kids around who spoke Polish in Australia?" Chuck asked. Sarah pulled her chin back. "Sorry, was that-"
"No, it was fine," Sarah interrupted. "It's just…no one ever asked me that."
"Well, it's just…" he shrugged. "I know from snippets that you still speak Polish with your family, but did you have any friends, or did you have to meet people using your second language?" He shook his head. "Sorry, is it considered your second language? I mean your parents spoke Polish in the home-"
"Deal," Sarah said, cutting him off before he could spiral any further.
"Really?"
"Mmmhmm," she hummed. "I need to go take care of some things, but I'll talk to both of you later." She looked at Chuck. "I'm looking forward to working with you."
"I honestly can't wait," Chuck told her. Sarah smiled shyly, turned, and left. Chuck walked to the doorway, to watch her leave.
"Oh, honey," Lou said softly to Zondra.
"This is gonna be spectacular," Zondra told Lou.
A/N: *Looks at camera* A car wreck. It's going to be a damn car wreck.
Next time:
"So you knew about Chuck Bartowski before you met him."
"I did," Sarah admitted, a coy smile on her face. "I couldn't believe some of the stuff I heard, because it was all so…impossible. No one is that good of a guy. No one…except him."
A. Car. Wreck. See you soon.