Chuck awoke at five in the morning having a flash of insight and dashed to his laptop to begin work on the program that invaded his dreams. He hadn't been inspired like this in years, and it was all because of the mysterious Sarah, not even Jill had brought this out of him.
Jill, he hadn't thought about her in years, even with the birthday emails from her, they had drifted apart after graduation. They had tried the long-distance thing with him in Silicon Valley working as a programmer and her in New York working for a private lab. For the first three months, they called each other twice a week, that fell to once a week, then once a month, and by their first year apart they hadn't talked in over two months. It was at that point they decided that their relationship had reached its' end, she even told him that there was someone in the lab she was working at that she was interested in but had not pursued it because of him.
Chuck told her that it was okay and that he hoped it worked out for her and after that, they exchange birthday e-mails every year.
As he finished up the coding on his new program his e-mail chirped and he saw that he got an e-mail from Bryce. Chuck turned from his computer and noticed that the chair in his room was empty, wondering if it had been empty when he woke up or if he was so engrossed in his work to notice Bryce leaving. Looking at his watch he was shocked that it was now eight-fourteen in the morning, he had been coding for over three hours.
Reading the e-mail, Bryce explained that the wedding was postponed as he had to leave for Europe to help a client with an audit. Chuck was bummed as he had hoped to spend the next few days before the wedding exploring their nation's capital. Now, he was hoping to track down Sarah and ask her out on a proper date.
Bringing up the site for the airline he had flown into DC on he was pleased he was able to reschedule his flight with minimal trouble and only a slight fee. His flight back to LA would leave at three that afternoon which would give him time to settle up with the hotel and grab lunch before going to Ronald Reagon for his flight to LAX.
First, he had to get something to eat and was thankful the hotel he was staying at had a breakfast buffet, which he was going to use to its' fullest. The adrenaline from all that programming was wearing off and he was starting to feel the beer he and Sarah had drank the night before. Food would hopefully banish the throbbing in his head.
It was around seven-thirty when he arrived at his apartment in Echo Park, he was glad that he had bought the complex the previous year. He had given his sister a much bigger apartment there for her and her boyfriend while staying in the one he and Ellie had shared since before Standford. He even gave Morgan the apartment across from him. Not much changed in his place other than he had moved it to Ellie and Devon's old room and his old room became his home office.
He had left the home office as it was but moved his clothes instead making also a spare bedroom for when Morgan had a few too many and forgot he lived a crossed the way. Morgan wasn't there when he got home, meaning the breaded man was either out or in his apartment, so Chuck connected his laptop to his office computer to run his new program through its' paces. It would take a few hours for the program to be strength tested and he was beaten after the surprise meeting he had after stepping off the plane.
He had spent the last couple of hours hammering out the deal that would launch Carmichael's new game onto consoles and PC. This was a multi-million-dollar deal, with royalties, that would allow him to expand Carmichael Industries. This meant more jobs for young programmers and testers; with luck, it would help so many people it brought a smile to his face almost as big as the one he got thinking about Sarah.
Going to his room he just crashed on his bed exhausted, for the meeting, the flight, the early morning coding session, and the spur-of-the-moment sex with a beautiful woman had drained him. As sleep took him his last thoughts were again of Sarah and how much he wished he had gotten her phone number or e-mail, hell her last name. He would probably never find her.
A crossed the country in a very spartan apartment Sarah was sleeping dreaming about the curly-haired nerd. His business card propped up on her nightstand.
Chuck awoke the next morning to the sound of his front door opening, he jumped out of bed to see who was in his apartment. He surprised the person in his living room, happy that it was his sister and not a real intruder. Ellie jumped at seeing Chuck in the hallway.
"Chuck what are you doing here?" she asked.
"I do live here." Chuck deadpanned.
"Ha, ha. I meant you were supposed to be in Washington the rest of the week," she said folding her arms in front of her chest.
"The wedding got postponed," he told her.
"Did the bride-to-be realize she was about to marry a tool?"
"I never met the bride-to-be; it was Bryce that pushed the wedding back," he explained.
"What, he decided he needed more time to screw around on his fiancé?"
"He had to fly to Europe to help one of his clients with an audit."
"A likely story. So, did you at least have fun at the douche's bachelor party?" Ellie asked.
"I ducked out once the stripper showed up," Chuck admitted.
"So, the whole trip was a complete bust?"
"Well, not a total bust," Chuck said as his cheeks turned bright red.
"Oh." Ellie squealed, "What is her name, Chuck?"
"Sarah, her name is Sarah," he said with a dreamy look on his face.
"And how did the two of you meet?" Ellie began what Chuck knew was an interrogation.
"It was on the balcony outside of where the bachelor party was being held." Chuck began.
"Which you were on because of the stripper," she said more of a statement than a question.
Chuck nodded before continuing, "I was out there for maybe ten minutes when this gorgeous blonde in a little black dress came out onto the balcony."
Ellie raised an eyebrow at the gorgeous comment but let it pass, wanting to know more.
"God, I couldn't even talk to her when she asked if she could have some of my beer. She fogged up my brain so much."
Now Ellie was intrigued, she had never heard her brother talk about a woman like this before, not even Jill. There was one thing bothering her and she could not let it go, so she had to ask.
"Why was she out on that balcony?"
"Funnily enough for the same reason as me," he explained.
"What do you mean?"
"She was at a bachelorette party and she left because they hired a stripper." he told her, "I guess I wasn't the only one that night that was uncomfortable with a stripper around."
"She was for a bachelorette party? She wasn't Bryce's f fiancé, was she?" she asked with concern in her voice.
"Bryce never introduced me to her, but I don't think the others at the party would have missed the bride-to-be exiting the party early." he defended.
"Let me ask you this Chuck. Were the guys at Bryce's bachelor party what you would consider his friends?"
"No, they seemed more like guys he knew from work but didn't know all that well," he admitted.
"Would it be so shocking if Bryce found a girl how was a lot like him? Hell, that is probably why he asked her to marry him, she reminded him of himself."
"No, it wouldn't shock me but Sarah is very much a woman and there is no way she would be Bryce's fiancé."
"How can you be so sure, little brother?" Ellie asked.
"Because we talked for two hours and they would have noticed if the guest of honor of a bachelorette party was gone for that long." Chuck blurted out without realizing he had just admitted to talking to Sarah for hours.
"Two hours? And no one came looking for either of you or even came out onto the balcony?" Ellie asked.
"Well..." Chuck went a deeper shade of red.
"Okay, spill what happened?" She demanded.
"Someone did start to come out on the balcony but..."
"But, what?"
"Sarah pulled me towards the wall behind her and kissed me." he said his cheeks turning magenta, "Are you happy now?"
"Extremally, was that all just a kiss?" She pressed for more.
Chuck turned his head away from her and it all fell into place for her.
"You had sex with her right there on the balcony?" Ellie was having a difficult time believing that her shy little brother would get down and dirty with someone he just met outside of all places. Not to mention during his college roommate's bachelor party, granted it was Bryce Larkin so she gave Chuck points for that.
The fact that Chuck wouldn't look her in the eyes was all the proof she needed to know that was exactly what had happened with this Sarah. She couldn't wait to meet this woman who could bring Chuck out of his shell enough to do something as steamy as balcony sex.
"So, when do I get to meet this woman that has unleashed my brother's inner exhibitionist?" she asked.
"I don't think you will, Ellie," he said seeing the confused look on her face.
"Why not?"
"We didn't exchange last names or phone numbers," he admitted sadly.
"You talked for two hours with this woman and didn't ask for her full name and number before you had sex with her?"
"The sex was spontaneous, after we kissed, we were looking in each other's eyes and we started making out like teenagers and one thing led to another."
"But two hours you talked to her. What did you talk about?" Ellie asked with a note of irritation in her voice.
"We talked about where we went to college, what our current jobs are and I told her about you, Devon and Morgan." he did his best to explain himself.
"So, you know nothing about this woman you had sex with." she pointed out.
"I know she went to Harvard and works in International Finances." Chuck defended.
"Is that enough to find her?" Ellie asked hoping that it was.
"No. There are three hundred and forty-seven Sarahs that went to Harvard and work in International Finances in the DC area," he explained.
"You must like her if you already ran a search for her." again she had never seen her brother like this.
"What. She took one of my business cards before she left the balcony," he said with excitement in his eyes.
"Chuck if she was going to call you, I think she would have done it by now, but hey give it a week maybe she is nervous about calling you." she tried to sound supportive but deep down she didn't believe this Sarah would call if she hadn't already.
"You're right Ellie. I won't give up hope until I have given it a week."
One week later, and still not one call from anyone named Sarah, but Chuck was not going to let this setback drag him down. He was on the phone, in his office, while Morgan was leaning against his desk talking about this girl he had met at a dinner. He listened to Morgan as he went on and on about this girl named Alex while on hold. He was glancing at some documents on his desk when the intercom went off and his assistant, Anna informed him that a Miss Walker was here to see him.
Chuck thought about it and couldn't remember any Miss Walker, but he would not turn away a potential client. He wasn't paying attention when the door opened and Morgan became quiet.
"Stop the presses! Who is that? Vicki Vale." Morgan quoted.
"Vicki Vale, Vick-Vicki Vale. Vickity-Vickity, Vicki Vale, Vic-Vicki Vale." Chuck was singing to that quote until he looked up and saw his Sarah. The phone slipped out of his hand and landed on the desk.
"I hope I'm not interrupting," she said.
"No. Not at all. That's... it's from Batman." Chuck quickly explained.
"'Cause that makes it better."
"Hi. I'm Morgan. This is, uh, this is Chuck."
"I didn't think people still named their kids Chuck, or Morgan, for that matter." She said.
"My parents are sadists, and carnival freaks found him in a dumpster," Chuck said sarcastically.
"But they raised me as one of their own." Morgan chimed in before beating a hasty retreat.
"How can I help you...?" Chuck asked as if he didn't know her name already.
"Sarah Walker" she responded be breaking out in a huge smile.
"So, Sarah Walker, is it?" he asked his own smile threatening to split his face.
"Yes, Charles 'Chuck' Bartowski."
"Mr. Bartowski, are you still there?" came a voice from the phone he had dropped.
"Yes, Mr. Morimoto, I am here and can assure you we will make the launch date with time to spare."."
"I look forward to seeing the beta of your game within three months, Sayonara." he hung up before Chuck could return the farewell.
He blindly put the phone back on the receiver as he was unable to take his eyes off of Sarah, not believing she was here. She was wearing a brown leather jacket and dark blue jeans, and even in casual clothes, she was still breathtaking to Chuck.
"So, how can I help you, Sarah?" he asked giving her the famous Bartowski eyebrow dance.
"My problem is this." she was fighting back a giggle as she placed the cell phone on his desk.
"Oh, yeah. The Intellicell." Chuck raised his eyebrow in question. "Yeah. Absolutely. This model has a little screw that pops loose right in the back here."
Chuck popped the back of the phone off then reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a pocket protector full of tools.
"Just go ahead and give it a couple of quick turns and... good as new, no problem." he finished the repair with a smile.
"I knew I came to the right place to fill my needs," Sarah said with a seductive smile.
Chuck swallowed hard, "Was the battery the only issue you were having?"
"I was having some trouble making calls for the last week," she explained.
"Really?"
"Yes. You see I meet this guy on a balcony a week ago but my stupid cell wouldn't put the call through." her smile was making it hard for him to breathe.
"Then why wait so long to get it fixed?" he asked.
"Well, I have taken it to the tech guys at work and all they ever do is give me a new Intellicell," she looked down at the phone on his desk, "Besides I wanted to come out here to visit someone and figure I can see them, the guy I met and have my phone fixed."
Chuck did wonder who this other person was as he was hoping there weren't any other guys she had met on balconies. It didn't really matter as long as she was here and wanted to see him again that was all he could've hoped for himself.
"I personally would get a new phone as the Intellicell is fairly out of date." then he thought for a minute and pulled open another drawer in his desk, "In fact take this."
He handed her a brand-new iPhone, still in the box. The look of surprise on Sarah's face was a sight to behold.
"Chuck I can't accept this, this is a several hundred-dollar phone," as she tried to hand it back to him but he refused.
"Take it we have dozens of them." after her questioning look, he explained, "We worked on the security software for the new iPhone so they gave us a ton of them."
"I don't know what to say, Chuck, thank you." she leaned over the desk and hugged him.
He hugged her back as best he could over the desk and then playfully asked, "Is there anything else I can help you with Miss Walker?"
"Actually, there is. You see I'm staying at the hotel across the street." she pointed out his window at the fancy hotel, "It has a wonderful restaurant but I don't have anyone to have lunch with."
Looking into her come-hither eyes he came from around his desk and offered his arm to her.
"I think I know someone who would gladly join you for lunch."
"Oh, do you?" she asked as they walked out of his office.
"Anna, I'm taking a long lunch so please cancel all my meetings for the rest of the day and tell anyone that calls for me that I'm out," Chuck told his assistant.