A/N: A shorter chapter, but a second chapter in two days? Are we cool with this?
"Chuck, this feels ridiculous," Sarah growled as she tried to pull the hem of the Nerd Herd skirt further down her legs. "I can't believe I'd miss my uniform pants."
"Well I think you look rather striking," Chuck said, trying to defuse her a bit.
"I'm going to strike you if anyone I know sees me."
"That's fair," Chuck nodded and swallowed deeply. "I appreciate you going undercover for a bit."
Sarah sighed as they squeezed into the Nerd Herder together. "It's a small sacrifice compared to the undercover work Bryce is going into. If he can get into a gang, or whatever kind of syndicate this is, I can survive this blouse."
"It's not that bad, is it?" Chuck asked, glancing over at her as he started the car.
Sarah shrugged. "It's less gear than I'm used to, so that's something. It feels more revealing than it actually is."
Chuck started the little mobile and pulled out of the parking lot. "Can we use your phone for the GPS?" Chuck asked, but Sarah's eyes were glued to the rearview mirror.
"I don't see a tail yet," she said as she dug through her purse for her phone, her hand reassuringly brushing against her gun. She punched in the address and mounted the phone to the little caddy on the dashboard.
"How are you feeling, being relatively in the open right now?" she asked.
Chuck took a moment to process an answer before saying, "It feels weird. It's nice to be out and working a job, but it also feels weird to know I'm probably being watched and am in danger. I'm really glad you're here with me though. I wouldn't be able to do this without you," he said honestly. He wanted to brush her hand like she had to his in so many times of uncertainty lately, but she was always the initiator of that, and he wanted her to continue to set the pace.
It was almost like Sarah could read his mind, because she patted his leg gently and smiled at him briefly. "It's my job, Chuck, and I'm happy to do it. I'm glad it's you I'm doing this with and not some asshole who would try to take advantage of the situation."
Chuck's face went stone serious and he risked a glance at her. "I would never do that to you, Sarah. I would never use this situation to do that. I respect you as a person too much, and while I know this is your job and you have to do it, I consider you a real friend and I have generally come to care about you," Chuck told her before nervously swallowing and anxiously passing his tongue over his lips.
Sarah's eyes followed the quick dash of his tongue. She caught herself looking and rapidly blinked. She wasn't going to let that from clearing her chest as Chuck had just done.
"I care about you, too, Chuck. Beyond the job. After this is all over and I'm back to work, I want to keep running into you. I want you to keep coming over when it's raining. I want Friday pizza nights to be a regular thing. You've quickly become a friend to me, and you've given new meaning to my job."
Chuck swallowed deeply again for what felt like the millionth time that day. He steeled his nerves and risked getting punched in the mouth or Sarah walking out on him. He released one hand from the wheel and took hers.
She squeezed his hand. Chuck blinked hard and then looked down at their joined hands. His heart hammered at what felt like 10,000 beats per minute. They held hands for about two minutes before they mutually eased pressure and returned his hands to the wheel.
"This is it," Sarah said as they pulled into a small parking lot, a small gated courtyard with a fountain layed just beyond a cobbled walkway. "This place is gorgeous," she noted as she looked around them before they both exited the vehicle.
"Dude, this place is pretty sweet," Chuck concurred, and then let out a low whistle.
The two came to the closed gate, and saw a speaker box with a list of names and house numbers. Chuck saw the button for Devon Woodcomb, and clicked it.
"Hey, Devon. This is Chuck with the Nerd Herd. I'm here to look at that printer you're having problems with."
"Chuck? Awesome. Come on in," Devon said, and just a moment later, there was an audible click, and the gate unlatched.
"Nice security system," Sarah said, looking at a mounted camera overlooking the gate.
"I feel safer already," Chuck said dryly.
After a quick walk, they came to Devon's door, which was already cracked open.
"Chuck, let me go first," Sarah says, placing a hand on his chest to stop him.
With her hand in the Nerd Herd tool bag, she snuck into the apartment. She looked around for two seconds before Devon came into view.
"Uh… where's Chuck?" Devon asked, but seemingly relaxed as he took another swig from his blender bottle.
"Hey Devon," Chuck said, coming into the room with a wave. "I forgot to tell you that I was bringing Sarah, our new hire. She's helping me out on house calls today," Chuck pulled out of thin air.
"Oh, tag teaming it? Awesome."
"So where's this printer?" Chuck asked.
¨Bertha lives back here," Devon said as he led Chuck and Sarah to a small office room, roughly one fifth of it taken up by a Kyocera stand-up fax, scanner, printer tower all in one.
¨Where the hell did you find this thing?" Chuck asked as he let out a full bodied laugh. ¨I haven't seen these since the one in the teacher's lounge in high school.¨
¨It came with the place, thanks to my mom," Devon said with a chuckle. ¨It's not printing and the scanner is having some issues, too. Can you take a look at it and see if it's salvageable?¨
¨I´d junk it and just get a bluetooth printer,¨ Sarah said, her arms crossed as Chuck actually inspected the once-mighty office titan.
¨This is a relic and deserves to be treated with some respect, Sarah,¨ Chuck lightly chastised his temporary assistant. ¨She's a member of a dying breed and should be respected.¨
¨Respectfully allowed to rest,¨ Sarah mumbled. ¨So what were you working on when you realized Bertha here was acting up?¨ Sarah asked, trying to make herself actually useful.
¨Like I told Chuck back at the Buy More, I was printing a roommate wanted ad when she stopped doing her best work,¨ Devon started. ¨I need another roomie or two to fill this place up. My parents own it, so it's barebone cost. We´re talking like, $400 a month. That's a steal for a place like this.
¨Holy shit, are you serious?¨ Sarah asked, her eyes bugging in her head. ¨Chuck, you definitely should apply,¨ Sarah almost shouted before realizing she had said that aloud, in front of Devon. She immediately covered her mouth, her eyes returning to saucer size again.
¨Are you looking for a new place, bro? You won't find a better deal, and that's not me trying to be a salesman.¨
¨I am looking for a place,¨ Chuck admitted. ¨I´m not making a hell of a lot….¨ Chuck trailed off, trying to run diagnostics while considering the steak on the plate in front of him.
¨Dude, that'd be awesome. You could fix stuff and in return I can cook you some serious food and be your personal trainer,¨ Devon only half joked. ¨How's that sound?¨
¨Could you groom his beard, too?¨ Sarah asked, but froze when both men looked at her. ¨Did I just say that out loud? I´m just going to go over here,¨ Sarah said, pointing out of the room, followed by her getting the hell out of there.
¨What's going on with the new girl?¨ Devon asked. ¨Dissing your beard right to your face, talking trash about Bertha, not awesome, man.¨
¨Yeah, I don't really know,¨ Chuck said with a pout. ¨She´s not usually like this.¨ Chuck sighed. ¨It's been a hell of a day for her, and she´s got a lot on her mind about something, I think.¨
¨I get that,¨ Devon said, nodding sagely. ¨I know I can say some things with zero filter when I'm distracted or have had a really long day.¨
¨Exactly,¨ Chuck said, pointing at him. ¨We´ve all been there. I´ll talk to her once we´re done here.¨
¨Thank you so much, Chuck and Sarah. I´m pumped to have Bertha back, and I tell you what; I´ll give you three days of first dibs to think about whether you want a room or not, okay?¨
Chuck stood there for a minute on the front step and chewed his lip. ¨You know what, Awesome? That sounds good. I appreciate that.¨
¨Awesome?¨ Devon asked, his head tilted.
¨Yeah, sorry Devon. I´ve been calling you that in my head for an hour now. It's like your favorite word, so I´m associating you with it now I guess,¨ Chuck explained with a warm smile.
¨That is awesome,¨ Devon said with a smile. ¨Hopefully you´ll be calling me soon about the room.¨
¨We´ll see, but I like the chances,¨ Chuck said, being honest with himself and Devon.
Once the door closed and it was just Chuck and Sarah, he stopped and looked at her. ¨My beard is bugging you that much?¨ Chuck asked, appearing rather hurt.
Sarah grimaced at him and picked the cobbled path. ¨It's not a great look, Chuck. I don't think so, anyway. But hey, my opinion of your appearance doesn't matter. I shouldn't have said anything, I don´t know how it slipped, and I´m sorry.¨
¨No no, you´re right,¨ Chuck yielded. I do get stared at a lot at work. I´m going to shave it as soon as I can buy a razor.¨
¨You are?" Sarah asked, sounding almost too hopeful.
¨Aha! You do hate it!¨ Chucked fired out. ¨I set a trap and you fell for it! People do stare, but you still fell for it.¨
¨That was dirty, Chuck,¨ Sarah laughed with a shake of her head. ¨I think it's the right call, and I think you'll appreciate it, too.¨
¨I´ll try to forget we had this talk,¨ Chuck laughed. ¨And hey, we got through a call without anything bad happening, and I have a new lead on a place. Things are looking up for us, finally.¨
¨Knock on wood right now,¨ Sarah ordered. ¨Why would you say that? You just jinxed us.¨
¨Sergeant Sarah Walker! Are you superstitious?¨ Chuck laughed at the newly obtained info.
¨No,¨ Sarah weakly countered. ¨It's just early in the day yet, and I think there's plenty of time for something to go wrong.¨
¨We deserve a good day for once, don´t you think?¨ Chuck asked.
¨What about last night? I thought that was a good night,¨ Sarah said softly.
¨Last night was great, Sarah. It was an absolute treat. I felt normal, warm, safe… and I had a bed for one night,¨ Chuck finished, his voice cracking a little at the last utterance.
¨I don't see a problem with occasional sleepovers in the future, even if you do get the room here,¨ Sarah told him, her heart flipping again when she saw Chuck´s futile attempt to hide a smile.
Sarah was heading into murky waters between friendship, professionalism, and… something else, but she knew she couldn't lie about how delicious the feeling of butterflies in her stomach were at the thought of another sleepover with Chuck. She also hated how hard she was thinking about what he'd look like without that bushy beard hiding half his face.