The Nerd Versus the P.I. Family
By Steampunk . Chuckster
A/N: Thanks everyone. Keep up the reviews. They help for sure. And I hope you're all safe and well.
Summary: Sarah Walker has uprooted her life, leaving her job with the LAPD and going it alone as a private investigator, all in the hopes it provides her with less dangerous stakes and a schedule she can control so that she can handle her most important job, raising her toddler, a bit easier. But when the single parent thinks her computer might've been targeted by a criminal, she has to request help from the unlikeliest of sources: The Buy More Nerd Herd.
Disclaimer: I do not own CHUCK, I do not own its characters, I am not making money from posting this.
Sarah Walker stepped back towards her desk and sat on the edge of it.
More like she slumped back when her knees got weak, and she was lucky the desk happened to be there for her to land on, rather than falling straight to the floor to crash onto her ass. Which would've only served to increase the ignominy.
Either way, she didn't care, because she was drowning in disappointment.
It hadn't been a choice, not mentioning her son to the cute I.T. guy she'd been connecting with over the last two days. She hadn't left her son out of the conversation on purpose. She wasn't ashamed of having a son. She was proud of Max.
He just hadn't come up. She wasn't sure why, because it wasn't like he'd been out of her head for two days. He was her everything.
And then when Chuck found the block under her desk and she said it was her son's, so nonchalantly, like it wasn't anything out of the ordinary, she realized with a jolt that this was the first time the man had heard she was a mother.
It struck her between the eyes how it must've sounded to him, hearing that the woman who'd been flirting with him for two days had a kid. So suddenly. It must've been whiplash.
She knew it had to be, too, because he'd done a poor job at first of covering up the stricken look on his face. And then he'd been kind again, warm. And it was a quick transition…
But she'd still seen it in his face for a few seconds, the same look she'd seen before on other men's faces after she had Max.
And she knew it was over before it had even started.
God, why was she this disappointed, though? She hadn't felt this disappointed after calling it quits with the guy she'd dated last year for almost a month, and she'd only known Chuck for two days—in all, she'd spent maybe seven hours with him at the most.
Sarah didn't blame him, though. She didn't feel anger or spite that he'd hightailed it out of her office upon learning the woman he'd been connecting with had a son. She imagined he was around her age, and probably had a million other things he'd rather do than date someone who already had a kid. There were extra responsibilities there. And roadblocks.
That wasn't exactly an easy thing to be okay with. A whole human who depended on her? What would dating a mom be like?
She was well aware of the implications and the potential red flags.
If she was interested in a guy and found out he had a kid, she'd go through the same thought process.
She felt gutted, though. And yet, it was all so bittersweet at the same time.
Because he'd been such a breath of fresh air in this stuffy freaking office. And while it wasn't like she wasn't happy at this point in her life—what with her agency starting to really settle and make a profit and with Max, and the time she spent with Carina, and with how supportive her parents were in all of this—Chuck the I.T. guy's short stint in her existence had felt like she was in a dark room and someone had opened the drapes to let the light flood in.
Sarah pushed her hands through her hair and sighed, her shoulders slumping. "Damn it," she breathed, biting her lip.
There were only three guys since Max's birth who'd found out she had a son and championed on anyway, and all three of them had turned out to be jerks in different ways.
Was she wrong to have hoped…? Maybe she really hadn't factored Max into the equation, but not because she'd forgotten him. It was more that he was the most important part of her life, a staple in her existence, and it was easy for her to forget that it was different for people who didn't have a kid.
So here she was then.
Nursing disappointment and hurt feelings, but also feeling a touch of gratefulness. Actually more than a touch, because she glanced over her shoulder and spotted the notepad where he'd written down how to protect her devices from the same issue he'd solved for her yesterday. He'd come here to be kind, to check and make sure she hadn't been essentially kicked off of the case and cut off from helping the LAPD and DA. He'd come to make sure she knew how to protect herself in the future.
This was information she could fax to Casey and Carina both, so that they'd be free of this issue themselves.
She was just glad she hadn't gushed to Carina about it. She'd feel extra awful now if she had.
This was probably for the best, in the end. He was such a good guy, and she got this sensation around him, this feeling like he was made for something…bigger. Dating a private investigator with a two and a half year old son would only hold something like him back.
She just couldn't help…wanting him anyway. Or at least a chance with him.
Sarah sighed heavily and pushed herself up to her feet again, turning towards the desk and away from the door to straighten a stack of papers, staple a few of them together, and drop them back where she found them…when she heard the door to the hallway burst open.
She glanced over her shoulder to see Chuck shutting the door behind him, before turning and eating up the space between them with his long legs.
Sarah spun on her heel to face him, bracing her palms on the desk behind her, feeling shaky at the suddenness of his reappearance after she'd been so sure she'd likely never see him again after she scared him off with a mention of her son.
"Chuck… H-Hi."
She was so confused, her usual mask didn't fall over her face and it showed there in its full glory.
"Hi," he said, lifting a hand to give her a half wave.
She shook herself and looked down at the desk behind her. "Did you forget something? Or—"
"No. I didn't." She turned back to give him a questioning look. "This is—I'm just gonna come right out and ask and not beat around the bush." He cleared his throat and nerves went through her. But then he met her gaze steadily. "You-You said you have a son, so…are you married?" He winced, as if knowing how personal of a question that was.
Trying to get her footing, she shook her head a little. "No."
Chuck let out a rough breath, the corner of his mouth twitching. But then he licked his lips. "I thought—I thought not because I didn't see a ring just now when I came back in here and looked. Sorry. I know it's…rude. And presumptuous. So is there…someone? I mean, a boyfriend? Significant other?" She widened her eyes. "I-I mean, the father of the—of your son…"
Sarah's eyes widened even further and her eyebrows went up. She didn't even mind the personal, pointed questions, because she was still struggling to nail down what in the hell was going on. She'd been so sure…
"He's not in the picture," she said.
"Not in the p—Oh," he breathed. His eyes darted to the side, a thoughtful look on his face.
"It's just me and my son."
Chuck nodded, looking at her again. He let her see another wince. "Look, I'm sorry. I'm being super rude and asking these really personal questions. I apologize."
"Th-That's okay," she said, sticking a hand out, shaking her head, shifting her weight—more like squirming.
"Sarah, do you want to go out with me sometime? Like on a date?" Before what he asked could even settle in her mind, he rushed on. "That's probably not what you—"
"Yes," she breathed, because his question had settled, and she was very sure of her answer.
He marched on as if he hadn't even heard her. "—expected. I know it's extremely unprofessional for me to be here asking you out on a date when you're a Nerd Herd client and I took payment from you yesterday, but technically I'd say this wasn't a professional visit today, because I didn't come here for the Buy More, I came for…you." He looked her right in her eyes as he said that.
Sarah smiled. "Chuck, yes."
"Yes…" he muttered, as if not sure he was understanding her meaning properly. As if he didn't dare assume she meant yes to the date.
"I want to go out with you on a date, Chuck. Yes," she said more solidly, an emphatic nod of her head.
She watched a million different reactions flood over his face in rapid succession, a mixture of relief, disbelief, understanding, awe, and finally…that glee he'd talked about earlier.
"Oh. Ahem. Okay." And then her answer must've really struck him, because that grin of his stretched over his whole face. It almost seemed to wash over his whole body, and he stood up straighter, lifting his chin. "Okay," he breathed. "Good. I mean, that's…great. I—Um, are you free tomorrow? Tomorrow night?"
Sarah nodded, chewing a bit on the inside of her lip. "Yeah. I am. W-Wait." She shook her head. "Sorry. I'm not sure. Sorry, I'm—My son. I just need to make sure..."
"Right!" he burst out, shaking his head as if he was dumb. "Right, of course, you need—"
"Have to make sure someone can watch him."
"Yes. You do. Of course." He chuckled, looking almost as giddy as she felt. "Uh—Um, here. Wait." He went into his pants pocket and tugged a smartphone out, unlocking it and tapping away for a short moment, before he walked right up to her and thrusted it towards her. "Your number. If that's…okay. I mean, I could always get it from the Nerd Herd customer files but…that's kinda creepy. So…"
Sarah giggled, inputing her cell number before handing it back to him. "Yeah, I prefer you just ask probably."
He nodded, looking down at her number in his phone for a long moment, and then he smiled and tapped away again, before she heard her phone buzz where she'd left it on her desk. She glanced at it over her shoulder.
"That's me," he chirped. "You have my number now. Same number on the business card, but still. I've given it to you…in your phone. Which, I guess, has some…symbolic…importance that just taking it off my business card, uh, doesn't…have. I'm gonna stop now," he said as she turned back to look at him with a smirk.
God, he was cute.
How wasn't her chest exploding? It was exploding. She had a strange sensation crashing through her, her fingers and toes tingling, her head buzzing. She felt like she was drunk.
"Actually, I'll go. I'll go and get out of your hair."
"Okay," she said with a short giggle, running her hands shyly down the front of her skirt. "I'll let you know if tomorrow is doable. If I can find someone to watch Max."
"Max," he said quietly, and his smile was just as quiet. "Okay. Yeah. And if you can't do tomorrow, the next night, or the next night, or…whatever night you can. I'm flexible."
"Okay, good." She beamed at him and this time she was the one offering her hand.
He chuckled and took it gladly, shaking it. But then he knocked her back on her heels one more time by turning his hand in hers, his thumb stroking over her knuckles almost reverently, almost as if he was going to lift her hand to his lips. But he didn't do it. He just held on gently.
And then he let go and backed towards her waiting area. "I'll hear from you soon then?"
"Yes," she said emphatically, inwardly screaming, having to work not to show how freaking incredible every last bit of this was making her feel.
"You promise?" he asked, pausing in the doorway.
His grin was insanely charming, the teasing wrinkle to his nose.
"Yeah," she said, letting out an amused breath. "I promise."
And then he was gone again.
Sarah needed her phone immediately, rushing around to the other side of her desk and scrambling for it. She saw his number there along with his text. Just "Hi, it's Chuck!" along with the bespectacled smiling emoji.
She was just barely keeping herself from bouncing off the walls, and she took a deep breath, trying to calm her insides at least a little before scrolling to her best friend's number.
Carina answered immediately. "Hey. You aren't taking my nephew away from me already, are you?"
"No," Sarah said, then she stopped herself. "Well, I mean…I am leaving soon. Within the hour, probably," she said, glancing at her watch. She didn't know if she'd be in the right mindset for work now. "I actually wanted to ask you a favor…"
"Oh! Sure, what's up? Everything okay?"
Sarah grinned. "Yeah. Great, you could say. I was actually gonna ask you if you're free to babysit again tomorrow night."
"Um, hold on. Let me just check…" Sarah heard Carina rummaging in her bag, most likely for her work calendar. "No meetings! I can babysit tomorrow night."
Oh, thank God, she wouldn't have to call either of her parents to ask them. She didn't really want to have to tell them she was going out on a date with someone again. She could only imagine the interrogation about it. She'd get one from Carina too, but it'd be…different. Less judgmental.
"You're a freaking gift, Red. Thank you." Sarah turned and looked at the window then, and she remembered the crack she'd made about Chuck's Nerd Herd car. She shoved at her chair so that it rolled to the window and she stood up, peeking through the blinds down to the street where his car had been parked.
"Okay, well, I'll see you in a little over an hour, huh? I've got work to do."
"Wait, but—!"
She hung up the phone and spotted the pill-looking vehicle still parked against the curb. A few seconds later, Chuck strolled up to it, unlocked it, and opened the door. Much to her surprise, instead of getting in, he stopped, looked around, and knocked her on her ass again.
The absolute goofball did a weird squirmy dance and pumped his fists into the air, then slammed his hands on the hood of the car a few times, did one last fist pump, and then laughed, ruffled his curls with both hands, and swung into the car behind the wheel.
Sarah laughed out loud, her chest fit to burst. She felt a little intrusive, having seen something he definitely hadn't meant for her to see. Or anyone, for that matter. But she was so glad she saw it. Because it put so much into perspective for her. She had no idea what had made him turn around somewhere in the hallway and come back into her office to ask her out before she'd seen his antics at his car. Now she was pretty sure she did know.
He liked her.
And he'd done all of that next to his little pill car out of excitement. Pure and unadulterated.
She wasn't sure she'd need her car to pick Max up from Carina's apartment.
At this point, she thought she might just float there.
}o{
Chuck sat in the parking lot outside of his apartment complex for a while, just smiling.
He was still recuperating from two simultaneous instances of whiplash that had occurred in the Walker Agency office.
His brain was still knocking back and forth in his skull from it.
And there was still the fact that he was going out on a date with a woman who had a child. A son, apparently. And then he realized he had no idea how old the son was.
Would that make a difference? Not in a way that would make him not want to go out with her, obviously. But different ages meant different ways he'd have to approach the kid. The younger the better, he guessed. As much as a younger kid might be more work, he assumed at least…an older kid would be more protective of his mom and less inclined to want someone else coming into his life, or his mom's life. The dad wasn't in the picture, she said, but did that just mean she wasn't in a relationship with him but he spent time with her son still? Because that whole YOU'RE NOT MY DAD thing might be a problem if that was the case.
Nerves pooled in his stomach, making him squirm.
That wasn't important right now. What was important was that she was single. And that had been his immediate disappointment. He'd assumed that if she had a kid, it also meant she had a husband or boyfriend, had started a family with someone already, and that took what he'd been hoping for—a date and getting to know her better—right off the table.
And he'd left. He'd even gotten halfway down the hallway, into the stairwell…before he realized how absolutely stupid he was for not at least asking. He didn't even know for sure. What if he was walking away from her when she was single, simply because he made an assumption? And he went the rest of his life having missed the chance to go out on a date with an incredible and awesome person? He'd be the world's most massive idiot for letting the moment pass him by.
He'd turned on his heel and gone straight back, adrenaline and a weird thread of courage coursing through him.
The second whiplash had happened when she confirmed she was single…and then she'd been so quick to say yes when he'd gone out on a limb to ask her out. He'd felt weak in the best way.
God, he still felt weak. And then strong. All at once. Was that even possible?
As he grabbed his bag to finally get out of the car, making an excited "tee hee heeeee" sound, his phone buzzed in his pocket with a text.
It was her. It was her it was her it was her it was…
He yanked it out, nearly dropping his bag on the ground, then looked. It was her.
"I've got someone to watch Max tomorrow night. I'm officially free!"
Chuck shoved both of his fists up over his head in celebration, arms ramrod straight. "YES!" He looked down at his phone to text her back, heading towards his apartment, but he ran right into the gate that led into the courtyard. "Ah—Ow!" He frowned at the gate as if it had done it to him on purpose. Then he stepped around it, still mad-dogging it, before he went back to his phone, walking slowly.
"Great!" He hit send. And then he stopped, thinking. Before he typed again, "Dinner, etc?"
He trotted up to his apartment and unlocked it, stepping into the dark room and turning on the lights. His phone buzzed again and he glanced at it.
"Etc?"
Chuck did a double take. Shit. Did he really just…? He froze, looking at his phone in horror. Maybe he could just play this off like he was totally clueless. That was good. He'd just do that. "I dunno. Drinks someplace? Dancing if you're into it?"
He was blowing this completely. Why did he have to type those three awful letters. Etc. God, he felt like such a moron.
"I see. I'm up for it! Are we meeting someplace? Or?"
Maybe he'd somehow dodged a bullet, or she was just incredibly kind and was letting him off the hook.
He nibbled on his lip, thinking. And he was maybe a little old-fashioned about first dates but he sent back, "How bout I just pick you up? 6:30 work for you?" He quickly typed and sent, "Or 7 if that's better."
"6:30 is better. And are you sure?You don't have to go out of your way."
Chuck rushed his response. "No it's good! I want to." He typed that he'd get to spend more time with her this way, but then he deleted that part and instead added, "Just text me your address and I'll pick you up for dinner at 6:30. Ok?"
"Dinner, etc? ;)"
A crooked grin fell over his lips and his heart thudded against his ribcage. "Ha! Yes that."
"See you then! Sleep well, Chuck."
"You too Sarah. Gnight."
Oh God, he wasn't sure if he'd sleep like a baby or stress the hell out all night, but either way, he felt like having a celebratory nightcap before bed.
}o{
Sarah knew what was coming and she felt a sense of anticipation and nerves both as she got off of the elevator to Carina's condo. She took a deep breath again, preparing herself. Maybe Carina would tone it down a little in front of Max. That was a nice thought.
Not a realistic one, but a nice one.
She knocked on the door and stepped back a little.
And then the door opened and Carina peeked out teasingly. "We don't want any."
That got her an eye roll, but Sarah chuckled as Carina finally opened the door wide and let her into the condo. "How did it go?"
"Really good, as always. Bit of a tired tantrum over nap time, but we got it done and he slept for an hour and a half." She shrugged as if proud of herself.
"Good work, Red," she drawled, hugging her best friend. "Sorry my kid had a tantrum at you."
"Oh it's okay. It wasn't really at me, it was at the world in general, I think. At his tiredness." Carina giggled then called over her shoulder. "Max, look who's heeeeere!"
A little brown head popped around the couch and the face that looked a lot like hers erupted in glee. "MOMMY!"
Sarah Walker was sure she'd never tire of how happy her son was to see her when they were apart, even if it was just for a few hours. She shrugged her bag off of her shoulder and set it on the nearby chair, meeting her toddling two and a half year old halfway and scooping him up.
"Oooooof, I need to stop feeding you so many carbs. I'm gonna reach a point where I can't do that anymore," she teased, hugging him tight. His little arms reached around her neck and squeezed back. And when he pulled back to grin at her happily, she saw a stain around his lips. "What's on your face?"
"Okay, don't kill me, but I let him try pomegranate juice." Sarah sent Carina a look, amused more than anything, and the redhead lifted her hands up by her shoulders. "I've been drinking it more often for my own health and I thought maybe he'd like to taste it."
"Well, I can't be mad," Sarah giggled. "It's healthy sugar even if it's sugar."
"No added sugar, though, so there's that!" Carina chirped.
"Did you like pomegranate juice?"
"It was sow," he said.
"Sour? You didn't like it?"
"I like it."
"You did? Well, okay. I'll keep that in the back of my mind." She sent Carina an impressed look and got a faux modest shrug back.
"Hey, Mr M. Want to go back to your blocks while Mommy and Miss C have a chat?" Carina asked then, reaching up to push her fingers through his thick and wavy brown hair.
"YEAH, my bocks!"
Sarah sent Carina a dubious look as she set Max down and let him go back to where he'd been playing when she arrived.
"What?"
"Like you don't know…" Carina scoffed. "What's this super secret thing you've got going on tomorrow night that you need a babysitter for?"
And there it was.
"I'm not being super secret, Carina."
"A little bit."
Sarah sighed, walking to Carina's bar counter next to the kitchen and hopping up onto one of the chairs. Carina followed and then set to pouring them each a half glass of wine. This was one of the things she liked the most about Carina. She knew when wine was necessary, almost inherently, before Sarah even knew herself.
"Okay, well… don't be the way you…get sometimes about this." Carina looked offended. "You'll know exactly what I mean when I tell you I'm going on a date tomorrow night."
Carina's mouth fell open, and then she shut it again and shrugged. "Okay, I have to give you that one. I do get a certain way." She clinked her wine glass against Sarah's. "Cheers to you finally getting freaking laid in like over a year."
"Annnnnnnd there it is." Sarah downed half of the wine Carina had poured her as the redhead laughed. "Why is that the first thing your mind goes to?" she asked after savoring first and then swallowing.
"Uh, because it's always been the first thing my mind goes to, Sar. We've been friends since we were kids. You know as well as I do that boys stopped having cooties for me when I hit fourteen." She winked.
Sarah sighed and chuckled. "I can't blame you for it. I really like 'em. Even when they suck a lot."
Carina waved her hand through the air. "Hold on. Wait. Refocus. You're going on a date tomorrow night. What the hell, Walker?" She gave her a saucy look. "What happened there? Who is he?"
Sarah bit her lip, sipping her wine again. "What happened there? Okay, well, um…he asked me out on a date and I said yes. Pretty simple concept—ow! You ass!" she hissed, amused, hitting Carina back after the other woman gave her a slap on the bicep. She laughed. "Okay, fine. The, uh, the guy who helped me find the keystroke logger on my laptop came back today."
"Damn. That takes major gonads. He helped you fix your computer and came all the way back the next day just to ask you out?"
"Noooo," Sarah groused, shaking her head. "It's not that simple."
"Oh, good. Explain then. Because I really didn't think you were so desperate that you'd accept a date with some computer geek who just pops in out of nowhere to ask you out." She showed her teeth and winced. "Yikes."
"You're being a jerk."
"I am, I know. A little. Sorry." But she didn't look all that sorry.
"He was in my office for a while yesterday because he used this program he actually built himself to scan my laptop. It's crazy, like … I had nothing to give him when he got to my office—"
"I sure hope not."
Sarah glared. "I'm talking about the laptop. Stop it. I had no idea if there even was anything wrong with it, you know? And that was all I could tell him. So he asked me first before he put his program in my system."
"A real gentleman." Carina was trying hard not to burst out laughing, Sarah could see. And she supposed she'd phrased that in the worst way and had kind of asked for it, hadn't she?
"I hate you," she said after a beat, rolling her eyes and trying not to smirk. "The thing basically scanned my whole laptop, so it took a few hours. I got us lunch eventually and we just sort of sat there and chatted." She didn't realize her features had softened significantly or that her friend absolutely noticed and got a mischievous look in her eye. "And I don't know. It felt like there was a real… We clicked," she said instead of what she was going to say. There was a real connection. She'd felt it almost immediately, mere minutes into their acquaintance. "And he found the keystroke logger, he made that copy of it—that flash drive I gave Casey was his—and then he wiped my laptop clean from any trace of the crud they put on my computer and he left." She shrugged.
"Then he came back today to ask you out?"
"Nope. Just let me…"
"Sorry, sorry. Go ahead." She mimicked zipping her lips and got a pointed look.
"He came back today for this…" Sarah looked over her shoulder and slid off the chair, going to where she'd left her bag, digging inside and pulling out the copy she'd made for Carina. "Here. I made a copy for you to keep, too. Since the info on your devices is a lot more important than the mess on mine, Miss Prosecutor for the DA."
Carina furrowed her brow in confusion and took it, looking down at it. "What's this?"
"He came back today because he wanted to make sure I knew how to prevent this from happening again. That stuff at the top is preventative measures you can take. And down here at the bottom is how to do periodic checks for keystroke loggers on your system." She felt a little bit smug as she rocked back on her heels, crossing her arms. She didn't know why.
"Damn… That's actually kind of…legit." Carina widened her eyes and looked up at Sarah. "This is for me?"
"Yeah. I mean, he also seemed like he was a little worried about me, too. Finding out someone's been creeping on my laptop admittedly left me a little rattled and he must've noticed it yesterday."
"You? …Rattled? And enough that someone noticed? Phew. Damn. It must've scared you a lot more than you thought."
"It did. But I think he's also just thoughtful and maybe more observant than I thought he'd be." She shrugged, wondering if she would've expected anyone to be that observant. Probably not. Not even the people who knew her the longest. "Either way, he came back out of kindness."
"And took a fat check from it, huh?"
Sarah took a lot of satisfaction from the look on Carina's face when she chirped, "Nope. Pro bono."
The surprise melted into a dubious look though. "Not exactly pro bono since he's getting a date with you tomorrow night out of it."
Sarah rolled her eyes. "Oh God, really?"
"The guy built a program that scans computers for viruses and shit all on his own, so he's obviously brainy. You think he couldn't come up with a plan to get a hot blonde to go on a date with him by doing a little free work for her?" Carina scoffed. "And you were always the one out of the two of us who was more skeptical and untrusting of people when we were growing up. Pffft. What happened to that Sarah?"
"She has a two year old she's trying to raise not to hate everybody and life in general," Sarah sassed. "I genuinely don't think he did all this work today just to get me to agree to a date. And honestly, if he did?" She pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows. "That's more effort than any other guy ever in my life has put into me, so I'm not really all that mad about it."
Carina opened her mouth to respond, then thought about it and shrugged. "I can't really dispute that. I mean, it's sound logic."
"Yeah, well… I'm kinda smart sometimes." She snorted. "Anyway, this guy is really cute. You should've seen him geeking out over my job."
"Oh, noooooo. Is he going to live out some Maltese Falcon fantasy through you? Is he one of those?"
"One of what? The last guy I dated didn't give a shit. He just didn't want me to arrest him for having a marijuana plant in his garden."
"That guy sucked. I still can't believe you let him hang around for so long."
"Yeah, yeah. I've already heard this one."
"I'm just teasing you, Sar. Look, I'm super excited for you." She knuckled Sarah's bicep. "You old dog, you."
"Never say that to me again, thanks."
Carina cackled.
Max scrambled up from behind the couch and asked, "'ut's funny?!" almost as if he'd felt left out when he heard Carina laughing.
Sarah pouted a little and walked up to him, lifting him up into her arms and propping him on her hip. "Your auntie is just being silly, that's all."
"I want to know if I get to meet him tomorrow," Carina said then, a devilish look in her blue eyes.
"Meet who?" Max asked.
"He's picking me up, so yeah, I guess you are."
"Who?"
"Well, that's just delicious."
"I swear to God, Carina, you'd better behave."
"What do you think, I'm gonna seduce him right out from under you?"
"What's a-duce?"
Both women stopped and turned to look at the two year old with wide eyes. Sarah acted fast. "Hey, pal. Did you know you get to see Carina again tomorrow?"
"I doooooo?"
"Yeeeees!" Carina reached over and took him from Sarah, shifting him to her own hip. "We're going to have an amazing time, me and you. We can even watch a movie because I am doing Mommy a favor and letting her spend time with a computer geek and her Limited Screentime Rules can take a flying leap."
Max giggled. "F'ying yeap!"
"That's right!"
Sarah could only sigh, giving the other woman a flat look. "Carina, I'm serious. Please be as normal as possible and don't...I don't know."
"Don't make any sudden movements? Will he short circuit if he's around two hot women at the same time?"
"HOT WOMEN!" Max threw his arms up in excitement.
Sarah blinked at her son. "If he repeats that in public, I'm blaming you."
Carina cracked up. "I'd be so proud."
"Stop it. Look, just…be chill tomorrow. Okay?"
"Sarah, come on. This is your first date in, like, nine months or something…"
"Five. Excuse me."
"I'm not counting the guy who left halfway through dinner when he found out about…your S-O-N…" she censored, halting a bit as she realized Max was still in her arms and listening intently. "M-A—"
Sarah's look cut her off. On good days, Max could spell his own name. That was probably all he could spell at this point, but still.
"M!" he exclaimed. "Muh muh….muh-muhmuh."
"Good job, Max! M makes a muh sound, that's right!" Sarah said, stroking his head. She glared at Carina subtly. "Anyway, I learned my lesson and now guys know about…my S-O-N…before the date."
"So the geek knows about him, then?" She made a face. "Huh."
"What's that mean?"
"What?"
"That 'HUH'. What's that?"
Carina widened her eyes. "Just 'huh'. Just a regular 'huh', that's all."
"HUH!" Max leaned back so that Carina had to hold on tighter, and he kept leaning until he was almost upside down. "Huuuuuhhhhhhhhhhh…"
Sarah giggled. "Okay, I'm getting this one home. He's loopy from hunger. You hungry, pal?"
As she took him back, he wrapped his arms around her head. "I'm hungee."
"Me, too. Let's go home. Say g'bye to Carina, huh? Say see you tomorrow…"
"See you morrowwwwwww."
Carina leaned in to kiss his head. "You will! What time should I come over?"
"Two!"
"No, Max, not two," Sarah said, giving him a look.
"Four!"
"Can you make it around six?" she asked. "He's picking me up at six-thirty. I figure that gives us time to clear out for our date and then you can start getting this one ready for B-E-D after we've left."
"Mommy, can I have mango?"
"Mango?" Sarah asked, furrowing her brow. "I don't have mango."
"I want mango. Mommy, I want mango."
Carina just shrugged when Sarah gave her a questioning look.
"Mango, Mommy. I want mango."
"I can't get you mango today, bud. We'll try another day, okay?
"But I want it."
Figuring this was going to be what she heard for the whole trip home, Sarah took a deep breath and leaned in to give Carina a one-armed hug. "I'll see you tomorrow. Thank you, again. You're a lifesaver."
"I do whatever I can to make sure my bestie gets laid, even if it is by a computer geek."
"S'a pooter geek?" Max asked, blinking.
Sarah mouthed 'I hate you' at Carina as she left, and the redhead's laughter followed her all the way to the elevator as Max asked a little more loudly, "S'a pooter geek?"
}o{
He knew he shouldn't have told Ellie he was going on a date tonight, he thought to himself as he parallel parked his car. But he'd had no choice, as she and her boyfriend Captain Awesome had driven his car back to the Buy More after Ellie's trip. He'd been adamant about getting it back before his date with Sarah tonight, for fear he'd have to drive her around on their first date in a car that looked like a cold medicine capsule.
But having them give him the car had also meant they were face to face, and he'd been unable to resist the urge to tell them he had a date, which was why he'd been so eager about getting the car back…
And maybe he'd enjoyed the spike in his pride at seeing the utter excitement in his sister's face. There was also utter surprise, which dulled the pride a bit. Not much. But…a little.
Of course, then that had led to him getting the third degree from her. And Awesome had stood by grinning with a halfhearted, "Go easy on him, El."
He'd obviously gotten the "What are you planning to wear?" question. And he'd said "clothes" and she'd growled at him.
Granted, for all the grumbling he did about Ellie giving him the third degree, she'd not only boosted his self-esteem with her faith in him, she'd also given him some good advice. If he was planning on wearing black pants, he should pair it with a dark colored button-up. His complexion was perfect for darker colors, she'd said. So here he was in nice black slacks and a dark grey button-up, a blazer over it instead of his usual Buy More black jacket or a sweatshirt. He'd fixed his hair as best he could.
And, without Ellie even having to advise him, he'd left early to grab flowers from the corner market across the street from his apartment complex.
He'd picked a small bouquet of flowers called gerberas because they were colorful and pretty. And maybe the florist had hinted not to go with the roses even if they were more expensive, since it was a first date, and maybe that was a little intimidating.
She'd seemed to know her shit, so the gerberas it was.
But now the nerves were coming back as he climbed out of his car and shut the door, fixing the lapel of the blazer and peering down at the flowers. "Okay, Chuck," he breathed. "You're doing this. You're doing this, and it's gonna be awesome. Like Ellie said, just be yourself and you can't go wrong."
He glanced up and saw an older man had paused to give him a strange look.
"Uh. Ahem…"
The man smirked and kept walking. Hopefully he'd put two and two together when he saw the flowers in Chuck's hand. Oops.
Chuck went up like Sarah had said in the text, taking the elevator to her floor, and he stepped out into a nice hallway with carpeted floors that at least looked really clean, and it was well-lit, with nice Impressionist paintings on the walls.
He nodded in approval as he looked at the numbers on the doors, searching for the numbers she'd given him.
And then he slowed down because a door popped open further down the hall and the sound of a crying child escaped into the hallway. "I DON'T WAAAANNTTT IIIIIIITTTT!" the child was yelling as they sobbed.
A frazzled woman bustled out into the hallway and didn't even glance at him twice as she rushed past him, swinging her purse onto her shoulder. The door was slammed shut again by someone else and the crying subsided.
Max.
That had been his name, right?
Sarah had called her son Max, right? Like Mad Max. He'd remember that. But he also needed to remember not to say that part out loud. That probably wouldn't go down too well.
God. Shit. Damn.
He wasn't just going out on a date with an exceptional woman, he was going out on a date with an exceptional woman who was a mother. She had a son. And Chuck just hadn't had the guts to ask Sarah how old he was, or really, anything about him. At the time, he'd been in her office and he'd been so floored by all of the developments and then ecstatic that she'd agreed to a date after that…he hadn't even thought to ask anything else about Max.
And now he had no idea what to expect.
What if some ten year old strutted out from his room and used a slingshot to shoot a marble at his head or something, because screw this guy trying to take his mom away?
Chuck shook his head at himself. This wasn't the freaking nineteen-fifties. Kids didn't have slingshots anymore.
And he was freaking himself out before he even knew what the situation was.
He could handle kids, couldn't he? He'd babysat them from the time he was thirteen all the way until he was sixteen and could legally get a part-time job of his own after school to help Ellie pay the bills.
The Rawlings told him he was great with their son and daughter, and they were sad to see him go when he turned sixteen and started his job at the Buy More with the Nerd Herd. So that was something, right? He'd be fine.
And still, he was so damn nervous now that he remembered about Max.
It was extra intimidating. And he couldn't help feeling like he had to not only impress a beautiful, nice, funny, smart badass of a woman, but he had to impress her son too. And he was probably super cool too.
Shit.
He'd always had trouble impressing women. That alone had been a struggle. Now he had to try to impress two people?
Chuck was aware that he was psyching himself out.
And yet…
He still did it.
Finally, he spotted the right numbers on the door and he checked his watch. "Damn it!" he whispered to himself. It was only six-twenty-two. He was eight minutes early. He should've just waited in the car, but if he'd waited in the car, then he'd walk into the building without knowing if there was even an elevator. What if he'd had to take five flights of stairs? That'd eat up a lot of time. And then he might be late.
He needed his brain to just shut up.
Especially since his fist had grown tired of all of the freaking out and had brought itself up to rap on the door three times.
Taking a step back, he pulled the flowers up in front of him and fixed a few of the petals, fluffing it a little.
He heard shuffling footsteps just inside of the door, and then the lock clicked, and finally it opened a crack, a blue eye peeking out. The woman opened it a few inches and furrowed her brow at him. "Uh…yes?"
Well, this was strange. Because this wasn't Sarah Walker, private investigator. It was a different, admittedly also extremely pretty, woman with red hair. And she looked very confused by his appearance. That didn't bode well.
He glanced at the number on the door. He hadn't knocked on the wrong door. This was the number Sarah gave him.
"H-Hi. Hi, sorry. I'm…Chuck."
"Kay…" She raised an eyebrow. "Who are you?"
Oh.
Crap.
A/N: Oh. Crap. Please review! Thanks everyone!
-SC
