The Nerd Versus the P.I. Family
By Steampunk . Chuckster
A/N: Here. Have some cuteness.
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.
She was roused by a dull thud sound, followed by laughter. Drunken laughter.
Frowning, her eyes still closed, she squirmed and turned her face into the soft material against her cheek, nuzzling it. And then she slowly blinked her eyes open.
Oh.
Oh crap.
She twisted her body around and looked up, right into a pair of brown eyes.
He winced and glanced over his shoulder towards the door with an annoyed look on his face. "Crap, I'm sorry. I've got rude neighbors down the hallway. They're married and they fight all the time, in the hallway, and then they do shit like this where they come home drunk and drop their keys or trip right outside my apartment and laugh and it's always so damn loud."
She shook her head and cleared her throat, reaching up to push some of the hair that had escaped her loose bun away from her face. "No, it's-it's okay. I get it. You don't really get to pick your neighbors. Was I…asleep? Oh God, I'm-I'm really sorry. I'm—"
"No, hey. No. Please don't apologize. I know you were tired. That's why when I felt you rest your head on my shoulder and get super heavy all of a sudden, I—er, I mean, not super heavy, I didn't mean that, I just…wanted to emphasize that you got heavier because you…fell asleep." She giggled haltingly at him, feeling the awkwardness between them. She felt like an idiot. "My point is, I thought I'd just let you sleep and I'd watch some TV in the meantime. And then those assholes had to go and wake you up."
Sarah gave him a warm smile and turned to see that he did have the television on, but there was no sound, though there were subtitles flitting across the bottom of the screen. "Where's the sound?"
"Oh, I muted it so you weren't disturbed. I spent enough time sharing living space with med students and then doctors, and their hours were so batshit crazy that I'd wanna watch TV in the middle of the day, but they'd be sleeping after an overnight shift, so I learned how to just turn off the sound and read subtitles." He shrugged, snagging the remote where it sat at his hip and turning off the television altogether.
"I shouldn't have fallen asleep," she said after a few moments of trying to get her bearings. "That was really rude."
"No, it wasn't! Not at all," he rushed out.
"How long was I out?" she asked, feeling herself blush in embarrassment. She tentatively pushed herself up to sit properly, away from where she'd still been leaning against his side without realizing it.
"It was only, like, twenty minutes."
"Oh." She slid her hands to her knees and squeezed, nibbling on her bottom lip. "I'm sorry. I—"
"Hey." He cut her off gently, his hand landing on her shoulder. "You don't have to apologize to me, okay? Especially not, like, five times." He smiled at her as the heat continued to rise from her collar. She could feel it rising up around her chin, coloring her cheeks.
"Ever have someone fall asleep on you on the second date before?" she asked, trying to ease the situation with humor.
"Uh, no, not literally on me," he chuckled. She sent him an arched brow and his hazy grin died. He cleared his throat. "Sorry. A bit crass. I'm dialing it back, don't worry." She sniffed in amusement, smiling at him. "The actual truth is I can't remember the last second date I was on. Oops." He winced. "Must not've been all that great." He winced again. "Or it was just that long ago," he emphasized. "Or should I maybe shut the hell up about that instead of just blabbing it at you like it isn't an extremely embarrassing thing?" His voice rose in pitch just slightly. "Hah. Just in case you thought you were dating a regular guy who dates as much as any normal person, I just want to put that to rest. Apparently. Yup. I'm terrible at dating. I suck at dates. You're welcome for that information."
He was spiraling out of control, losing his bearings, and she could see it. The wide-eyed look on his face, the way he was rambling.
"Listen, you're talking to a single parent," she said dryly, stopping his tirade against himself. "If anyone can relate, it's me. Without even trying, Max tends to be a sort of, um, deterrent. For better or for worse." He frowned a little and she clarified. "Nobody wants that extra string attached when they're going on a date with someone. A kid? Even more responsibility? Hell no." She pointed at the door. "Never see 'em again."
"We make quite a pair, huh?" he asked. "You having trouble getting a second date with guys because your son's existence scares them off, and me having trouble getting a second date with women because I scare them off."
Sarah laughed, in spite of everything, nearly tipping over as he chuckled, grinning self-deprecatingly.
"Shut up. There is nothing scary about you."
"I'm gonna go ahead and let you think that for as long as possible and in the meantime, I'm gonna zip the lip just in case my big mouth tries to give you a reason to change your mind." He scratched the back of his head adorably.
"Cut it out," she admonished, amusement in her face. "Look, I can't think of a lot of people who wouldn't be personally offended if the person they were on a date with fell asleep in the middle of said date." She wrinkled her nose and pursed her lips. "I didn't intend on coming over here and promptly falling asleep on your couch, I promise."
Chuck laughed and shook his head. "I didn't think you fell asleep on purpose, and even if you had, I'm totally fine with it. Splay out on my couch, by all means. Take a break, use this opportunity when your two year old is staying with his grandparents to unwind and actually get some uninterrupted rest."
"At your expense?" she asked, twisting around to face him better and propping her elbow on the back of his couch, resting her head in her palm a bit jauntily.
She took him in, sitting straight-backed, a little tense, which was very different from how he'd been sitting when she first woke up with her head leaning on his shoulder. He'd looked nice and comfortable then. She supposed they were both a little uncomfortable now, the situation a bit awkward. God, she'd fallen asleep on a date with a guy she actually liked and was actively trying not to frighten off.
She cursed herself for her lack of willpower.
"It isn't at my expense. You're still here. I'm still… What I mean is we're still in the same space together. I, uh, I like being around you, whether you're awake the whole time or not." He shrugged as she just stared at him, unsure of how to take that. "Look, Sarah, you literally told me when you called that you were super tired and didn't want to do anything too taxing. Which is why this became the plan. Chilling. Just…hanging out. Honestly, my apartment is super cozy, I can't blame you. It's no wonder you fell asleep. I fall asleep here all the time."
He gave her a crooked smile, and she glanced at him in amusement, ducking her head with another blush.
What she didn't want to say out loud, because it was hard even admitting it quietly to herself without getting a bit of a nervous feeling in her gut, was that it was extremely mind boggling that she had fallen asleep, even as tired as she was. She tended to only fall asleep in environments that she felt were specifically controlled by her. At her own home in her apartment, or at her parents' house where she grew up, and finally in Carina's apartment. Or in a hotel room somewhere, through that was a rare occurrence ever since Max came along.
And yet, just sitting on this couch next to Chuck, in an apartment she'd never been in before ever in her life until she walked into it tonight, she'd fallen asleep as easy as she would have on her own couch. And she had found a pillow in his shoulder and his arm. For twenty whole minutes. Fast asleep.
On only the second date.
That felt…scary.
It was a lot of trust that she did not tend to just give out. Not even before her son came into her life.
She squirmed as it struck her in its entirety. Every bit of its significance.
"Yeah, I've been…super exhausted all week," she said quietly, trying to push all of that out of her head and focus on something else completely.
"Mm. I see. If I were to take a shot in the dark right now, I'd say the exhaustion isn't…just that you have a two year old son…" She smiled a little and shook her head. "The case?"
She nibbled on her lip and nodded.
"Any leads?" She gave him a look and he leaned back, away from her, contrite. "Sorry. I got a little excited and forgot that it's none of my business."
Smirking, she tilted her head to the side. "I'm not technically allowed to discuss a case with a civilian." She shrugged. "My cases? Sure. But something I'm working on in tandem with the police? Absolutely not."
"I completely get that. I don't want you getting in tr—Wait, did you just call me a civilian?" He did a double take that was stupid levels of cute. "That's very superhero-y of you."
Sarah giggled. "You get snagged on the weirdest stuff, Chuck. It's honestly fascinating."
"Snagged? What am I, a knitted sweater?"
She cracked up, laughing so hard that she fell back across the cushions, pillowing her head against the arm of the couch, hugging herself with her arms. "Don't make fun of me."
"I'm not," he chuckled, holding his hands up in surrender. "I'm not at all. That was cute, that's all."
"Oh, I'm cute?" she flirted, folding an arm under her head and lifting an eyebrow.
"Yep," he answered easily, a small smile on his face. "Amongst many, many other things…that you are." He took a small sudden breath in the middle of his sentence, and his face almost seemed to melt as he finished his sentence.
It warmed her from the inside out.
Sarah slowly pushed herself to sit up again, subtly shifting a bit closer to him and leaning her shoulder against the back of the couch, biting her lip. "Really? Care to expand?"
"Um." He cleared his throat and narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. He almost seemed to sit up straight again the moment she flirted with him. "No." Her jaw dropped and she just barely suppressed a surprised laugh. "Listen, I have to keep some of the good stuff in my pocket for later, otherwise I'll run out by the time we finish our third date, fourth at the latest, and then I'll have nothing, and you'll be like, 'Well this guy is super boring, I'm outta here', and I really don't want that to happen."
She could tell by the look on his face that he knew he got her with that one. He was certainly the most fascinating man she'd ever met, and exceptionally quick to the draw in the most sincerely charming way.
"Chuck," she laughed, "you made me climb onto the roof of your car to eat tacos after we missed out on our reservation at a nice restaurant because you insisted we turn around and bring my son's Lovey back to him, and that was just the first date. Then you cooked for me on our second date, and when miscommunication resulted in my bringing fast food, you created the most delicious combo meal ever, and on top of that, you mixed all of the milkshakes together to make Neapolitan shakes for us. Nothing about you is boring. I'm the one who fell asleep on the date, not you. I'd like to remind you of that extremely embarrassing little tidbit."
"Neapolitan! That's what it's called!" He snapped his fingers. "I've been trying to think of what—Never mind. Not important. I'm being the knitted sweater again," he said, clearing his throat. She giggled, somehow even more charmed. "And forget it, you fell asleep, it's not the end of the world," he said, waving it away.
His smile was warm and it made her feel something that reminded her of…she didn't really know. Comfort, maybe? Maybe that was it.
"Well, I meant what I said. You aren't boring at all."
"Well, thank you." He gave her an adorably silly look. "Hey, you're a P.I… I gotta keep up with you somehow."
"Okay, but just because my career might not be boring, doesn't mean I'm not. I gotta be the boring mom to counteract all of that the energy from the little guy," she groused, rolling her eyes.
"What?! Boring mom?! Listen, you could've said no to the tacos, to the climbing on the roof thing, to the rest of the date, to the milkshake thing I did tonight. But you didn't. You went along with all of it. That's anything but boring. I mean, it isn't just your job, as nuts as your job is, it's you." She smiled at him, still a little reluctant to concede his point, as good as it was. "Which actually…reminds me. I know you can't talk about your case you're working on with-with the LAPD and all that. And I absolutely get that. But I just…wanna know if things are going okay with the computer. Your computer. No other hacker jerks? It's running all right?"
Sarah nodded and smiled at him. "It's perfect, working just fine. No hackers. I just checked earlier today."
"Good. And you?" She gave him a curious look and he turned to look at the blank screen on the television intently. He cleared his throat and shifted towards her a bit more. "I mean, are-are you okay?"
She could see the sincerity in his face as he asked after her well-being, but more than that, she could feel it. Genuine kindness just emanated off of him. Maybe that was what made her feel safe and comfortable enough to fall asleep in an environment that wasn't under her complete control.
He wasn't just asking because he knew that was the thing he was supposed to do. He cared about the answer. He cared about her.
And he seemed not to mind her seeing it, feeling it. And as she answered, she didn't even notice a few of the little wounds inside of her healing just slightly…
"I am, yeah. Besides…tired. I'm tired. But I'm okay. I'm figuring it out. Not all the way there yet but I'm…on my way."
Chuck sniffed in amusement, his lips pressed into a thin line. And his brown eyes fastened on her blue ones. "Nobody has it all figured out. Not anybody. I'd stake my whole career on that, too. We're all…on our way. Well, no. Maybe I go too far with that one. Some people are not on their way." She giggled. "But nobody's got it figured out. At least, not anybody I've ever heard of. Trust me." He huffed. "Shit, look at me! I'm not even close, and the only person I have to take care of is me. We're all messes. All of us."
She smiled and studied him for a long moment. "Maybe you're right. But I'm specifically a mess with a two year old to raise. And virtually alone, too." She sighed then, realizing how she was sounding. "I'm not alone. I have people. I have my parents. I wouldn't be here right now if they weren't such good grandparents who want to spend so much time with their grandson. I have Carina who swoops in to save the day when I need a last minute babysitter, like, eighty percent of the time. I'm not alone, I have people. I'm sure I sound super whiney right now."
"You don't at all," he said quickly, and she found his hand on her knee that she'd pulled up onto the couch cushion so that she could face him better. There was a warm feeling emitting from his touch, seeping through her pants and up her leg. It was a good warm feeling, a comforting feeling. "You sound grateful to me. Grateful for the people you have around you, your family, Carina…your helpers. You sound grateful. And human. I don't know what it's like to raise a kid, but whether you have help or not, I'm absolutely certain it's super fucking hard."
She raised her eyebrows and smirked. "It definitely is."
He thrust his hand out towards her, palm up. "See?" It landed back on her knee and she was glad. "Again, I probably don't know what in the hell I'm talking about, but I feel like it's completely okay for you to be tired sometimes, for you to want to vent about how parenting is hard. You—" He stopped, his tongue darting out to wet his lips thoughtfully, his eyes narrowing. She found herself leaning a bit closer, watching him, wondering if she couldn't just sit here and listen to him talk like this all night long. "Well, you are doing this alone, whether you parents and Carina are helping or not. Typically people have, I dunno, a partner. Another person. Who's there to sort of carry some of the load. I guess. I don't know. I probably sound like I'm talking out of my ass about something I know nothing about. Ignore me."
"You sound like someone who is being incredibly sweet. And I don't know, maybe you're completely right. Who am I to say? I've only been doing this parenting thing for two and a half years." She giggled. And then she picked her head up from where she'd propped it in her palm and reached over with that same hand to squeeze his shoulder. "Thank you, Chuck."
"For what? Rambling like an idiot?" he chuckled.
"You didn't ramble. And nothing about that was idiotic. It was kind and thoughtful. And I'm starting to think that's your whole vibe." She gave him a flirtatious look and he ducked his head.
"The kind and thoughtful vibe. Snatching up allll the ladiiiiies," he drawled, rubbing his hands together, giving her a cheesy, toothy smile.
Sarah laughed, shaking her head. "You freaking dork. You better not be snatching up all the ladies, either." She arched an eyebrow at him. He gave her a questioning look. "I haven't got all the rights just yet, but we'll see about that…"
"The rights to wh—Oh." He blushed, practically turning magenta. He cleared his throat. "That-That was just a joke. I'm not actually—But you know that. Of course you know that. And you were also just joking. Well, I'm embarrassed."
Giggling, she scooted closer to him and wrapped her arm around his neck, leaning in to kiss his cheek. It was a long, warm kiss right up against his cheekbone. And when he turned his head to look at her, his eyes a little wide in surprise, she couldn't help but lean in to kiss him on the lips.
He reacted immediately, taking her in his arms and kissing her back, making her gasp. She smiled against his lips and tilted her head slightly to gain more access.
But then her phone went off again.
Chuck was the one to break the kiss and she groaned.
"Oh my God, make it stop."
He laughed, slipping his hands from her body and resting them in his lap, much to her dismay. "Go answer it."
"I don't want to," she whined, making him laugh harder. But she growled and got up anyway, stomping around to where she'd stashed her phone in her bag by the door, thinking it would just stay there for the rest of the night and not bother her during this date.
But that was not to be.
She rolled her eyes as she walked back to the couch with her phone. And then she answered it, aware it could be about the case. She slumped onto the other half of the couch, pouting dramatically to try to elicit a smile from him. "Yes, Carina?"
Chuck raised his eyebrows, reaching up to ruffle his own curls. It was cute and she wanted to do that to his curls with her own hand.
"Hi, girlie. I just swung by your place to drop off some case files but you weren't there."
"Oh. Oh! What files?" she asked, sitting up straighter, adrenaline going through her veins.
"We found a connection between our guy and someone else LAPD just picked up this morning. Herman Plotky, a real estate agent working in Orange County. Charge is human trafficking, found some naughty pictures in an album in his house on top of that."
"Ewwww, Jesus Christ, why is it always something disgusting like that? Wait. Connection to our guy… You mean Keith Lynch? Our insurance fraud guy? He's a human trafficker?"
"Maybe, maybe not. We have to figure out how much he's involved with Plotky. We've got correspondences between them that were picked up when Detective Rizzo tapped into Plotky's phone records."
"Well, shit."
"Yeah. I guess Lynch decided if he's gonna be a criminal, he'd better go all out."
"Sickening." Chuck raised his eyebrows in curiosity and she gave him a minute head shake. She needed to wrap this up. She'd taken a calculated risk, saying as much as she had in front of him. "Well, listen, I, um, can't meet you now to get those files, but I can drop by your office tomorrow. How's that?"
"What? Sarah Walker not literally tearing the city apart to get her hands on some new evidence for a case she's working? What's this about?"
Sarah knew that Carina was joking, but she was also half-serious.
"Is tomorrow okay?" she asked, ignoring her friend's ribbing.
"That's fine, but why can't you—Oh, are you and Max at the 'rents?"
"Um."
There was a long pause. She couldn't lie in that moment, as easy as it would be. It felt wrong. And then Carina gasped. "YOU'RE ON A DAAAATE!" Sarah didn't respond, wincing and pulling the phone away from her ear. "Oh my God! Blondie! You're on a date right now, aren't you? Why did you answer the phone?!"
"Because I thought it was about the case!" she groused, turning herself away from Chuck a bit, hoping he couldn't hear Carina's exclamations.
"You are such a workaholic, Sar, it almost makes me mad. Really. Anyway, that doesn't matter. Who are you on a date with?" Sarah didn't answer, sneaking a look at Chuck who was sitting with his hands in his lap, one eyebrow arched as he played with the TV remote he must've grabbed from somewhere to have something to do while she rudely spoke on the phone during their date—again.
"Is it the I.T. nerd? Um, what-what was his name again? Chortle?"
Sarah laughed, then stifled it a bit. "You're such a dick."
"I'm asking seriously. What's his name? Oh, wait, he's with you right now, isn't he? Damn, you're rude, Sarah. Answering the phone in bed?"
"I'm not—" She definitely didn't finish that.
"Hand him the phone."
"What?! No!"
Chuck jumped a little and looked at her with wide eyes. She shook her head at him and he looked incredibly confused.
"Yes. Let me talk to him."
"Absolutely not. You are not talking to him." She didn't care that Chuck was sitting next to her at this point. "No way." But then Chuck's hand was stretched out between them and he wiggled his fingers for the phone. "No!" she snapped at him, even as she gave him an amused look. "Carina, mind your own business."
"I am! I want to talk to him about those directions he wrote you that you gave me a copy of."
"No."
Chuck wiggled his fingers again, a grin on his face. And she found he was a lot harder to say no to than Carina. But still … no.
"I'll get the files at your office tomorrow."
"And right now, you'll let me talk to your boyfriend."
"He isn't…" She decided not to finish that either. That had connotations she wasn't exactly ready for at this point. "You know, you could you just let me get back to my date in peace. That's an option, Red."
"I could…"
But she wasn't going to.
"What are you two up to anyway? Clear your throat if its sex."
"I hate you. I actively hate you. And no, it isn't." God, she hoped Chuck couldn't hear the crazy woman.
"Ugh, bummer."
"Can you let me go, please? Before I have to be extra rude and hang up on you?"
"If you don't let me talk to the date whose name I still can't remember and you so rudely insist on not telling me, I'm going to ask your dad what he thinks about his darling Sarah dating a guy who works at the Buy Mo—"
Sarah pulled the phone away from her ear and thrusted it into Chuck's hand. "It's my friend, Carina. The one you met. She'd like to talk to you about the, um, directions I gave her. Computer safety. All that."
She felt bad that Carina's teasing threat had worked so well. And it wasn't for the reason Carina might think. And she was frustrated that it would seem like she was ashamed of dating someone who worked for the Buy More. It wasn't that at all, but how much better was it that she didn't want Carina to talk to her dad about Chuck because they didn't know about him yet? Sure, this was only their second date, but she was pretty God damn sure this wasn't going to be the last one.
He felt like a fighter. He'd fought for this date. And he'd won. Against maybe her better judgment. She didn't know if it was against her better judgment or not, honestly. She just knew she got a lot of nervous energy when she thought about him. For better or for worse.
Chuck put the phone up to his ear. "Hi, Carina! How are ya?"
Sarah couldn't hear what Carina was saying, at least, so that was good. It meant he hadn't heard the Carina side of the conversation. That would be mortifying.
"Mmm. Mhm. I understand your concerns," he said with no small amount of gravity. Sarah watched him closely, nervous. Carina was in a mischievous mood and she still hadn't gotten much of a read on how her best friend felt about this situation. "Uh, yes. If it's an older model, it'll be easier to access." He paused again and Sarah boggled at him. He just shrugged in response, apparently listening to what Carina was saying. "Sure! When you get the model, you can tell Sarah and she can pass it on to me. I'll see what I can do to help."
Sarah rolled her eyes and reached over to put her hand on his arm, getting his attention. "You don't have to," she whispered, but he brushed his hand through the air and shook his head, smirking at her.
But then his eyes widened significantly. "Oh. Um. Wh—Erm, I don't really…know how to answer that question." Oh, no. "Um, I…I think? I don't feel like I can say. I mean, it isn't my—Right, yes." The look on her face made Sarah want to rip the phone out of his hand, snap at Carina, and hang up. What in the hell was the redhead up to that had Chuck so pale? "Well, you know, we're…It's a second date. So." He paused then and turned to look at Sarah, a smile slowly growing on his face. The change was disarming to say the least. "How's it going? That I can answer. On a scale from one to ten, it's a twelve." He narrowed his eyes. "Nah, thirteen."
Sarah smiled back at him and reached out between them, wiggling her fingers the way he had a minute earlier.
"Sarah wants the phone back, but it was nice being grilled by you, Carina." He listened for a moment, chuckled good-naturedly, said, "See ya!", and handed the phone back to Sarah.
She snatched it. "Hey there, Red." Climbing to her feet and walking around the couch towards her bag again, she hissed, "You realize I'm going to kill you, right?"
"Oh come on. I'm being your best friend. Somebody's gotta look out for you."
"Mhmmm. That'll be me, Carina. Thanks anyway. Why exactly do you think grilling my date is looking out for me?"
"Call me George Foreman."
"I'm calling you a jerk. I'll come by tomorrow to get those files."
"Are you going to yell at me?"
"Yup!" she chirped.
"Aw shit. Well, maybe text me before you come so I have time to escape."
"I hate you."
"Love you tooooo!"
Feeling legitimately miffed, Sarah hung up and set the phone down on top of her bag before slowly making her way back to Chuck's side. She hated not knowing what they'd just talked about on the phone, but if Carina had actually grilled Chuck, she'd be genuinely angry at her best friend.
She really would be.
}o{
"Um…" Sarah stopped next to the couch, standing above him as he turned to look up at her. "Do I have stuff to apologize for?" she asked. "Was she…rude? Mean? Belittling?"
Chuck snorted and shook his head. "You have nothing to apologize for. Don't worry."
He had been grilled by Carina over the phone. That much was true. And as surprised as he was, he wasn't offended or upset in any way. In fact, he understood it.
She'd asked him if he intended to pursue a real relationship with her best friend. And he hadn't known how to answer that because he absolutely did intend to do that. But he didn't really want to tell Sarah's best friend that before he told Sarah herself.
But he couldn't help wondering why Carina wanted to know the answer to that. She'd gone full prosecution lawyer when she'd asked, too. It was intimidating as all hell.
What if he'd said yes? Would she be angry? Did she hate him? She hadn't seemed to hate him that night of his and Sarah's first date when he arrived to pick her up, nor when he dropped her off again.
If he'd answered no to her question, he'd be an absolute imbecile. And lying.
So he hadn't answered. And he knew Carina was smart. She hadn't gotten into the DA's office because she was dumb. She'd absolutely picked up on the fact that he hadn't answered her question, albeit letting him get away with it instead of pushing.
"But you didn't answer about if she was rude, mean, or belittling," she said with a smirk, shifting her weight.
"She wasn't any of those things. She was looking out for you, which is…it's good."
Sarah groaned and stepped over his legs to get to the other end of the couch, throwing herself down and frowning. "I'm really sorry." She covered her face."It's okay!"
She pulled her hands down from her face and crossed her arms, looking upset. "No. It isn't. Look, my dating track record wasn't great before everything happened with getting pregnant and Max being born, and it's been especially bad after he came along. I've…" She sighed. "I've made a mess of things with different guys, and I've been…hurt, I guess you could say." She looked extremely uncomfortable, uncomfortable enough that he reached over to take her hand, squeezing it in support. "Max is my priority. And that's been hard for some guys to…stomach, I guess. And they either walked away, or I had to do the walking away. Some of them felt worse than others. Carina's…" She sighed. "She can be protective. Especially since she's helped me pick up the pieces more than once. She doesn't mean harm, I know that, but it makes me a little nuts. So I apologize for my best friend cornering you and making things awkward."
"I get it."
Sarah huffed and crossed her arms, almost like she was hugging herself. It made her look smaller, younger. It also made him want to wrap her up in his arms and make whatever bad things she was feeling at that moment go away. He couldn't do that, especially not on just their second date, so he just sat silently and watched, waiting patiently for her to continue.
"Max definitely adds an extra seriousness into the way she gets so protective. I mean, she's basically his aunt, even though it isn't by blood. He's the most important thing in the world to her, I have no doubt."
Chuck nodded in understanding. "I can see that. I mean, with the way the, uh, the guy who… You know, how he just walked out of your life when he found out. Instead of being a freaking grown-up, taking some responsibility of his own for what happened." She raised her eyebrows and he almost shrank a bit. But then he decided not to shrink. He decided not to apologize this time. The guy was an asshole. Objectively. It was just how Chuck felt about it. So instead of shrinking, he grumbled, "I still think he's a coward." She smiled a little bitterly. "Not my place to say it, I know. But that's…my opinion on that." He shook his head, then, trying to get back on track. "My point is that I can see why she'd be protective of you. Not that you need protection, but you're you. I mean, great. You're great. But I, um, I can also see why she's so protective of your son. You've made him into an incredible kid, erm, from what I can tell."
She grinned at him and ducked her head. "Thank you. And thank you for being so understanding about the whole thing."
"I promise you that it's okay. I'm fine. She's sort of terrifying but I think I can handle it." He smiled slowly, his nose wrinkling, and she slumped into the couch with her cheek smashed against the back of it.
Things felt awkward now and he didn't know how to fix it. He wanted to go back to the kissing that was happening before her phone rang, before her best friend asked him a serious question he wasn't prepared to answer. And right after asking a computer question he had been prepared to answer.
What was up with that? Damn.
Sarah finally sat up again and shook her head, rolling her eyes. "I feel like this entire date now has been me apologizing for shit, displaying my messiness in its full glory, and you saying 'It's okay' over and over and over again."
Chuck stopped himself from saying that it was okay again. Just barely. "I-I don't know what else to say."
"No, no." She grabbed his forearm and slid her fingers down over his wrist to wrap them around his hand, squeezing. "That isn't a criticism of you. It's…me. You're being sweet about me being such a fucking wreck." She twisted her lips to the side, looking shy all of a sudden. "I warned you when we talked on the phone that day that I'd be…like this, I guess."
"Like what?" he asked, shrugging. "I think that you think you're a lot worse to date than you are. Listen, I'm no professional at dating, okay? In fact, I'm probably kind of bad at it, in full honesty. We've already been through that, I know. But dating is freaking hard!" He chuckled, shaking his head. "You think you're this colossal hardship to go out with because of…any number of things—being a single parent, your friend calling in the middle of the date to grill me—" She winced. "But the truth is that I'm enjoying this a whole lot." He pulled his leg up onto the couch to face her better, bouncing a bit on the couch with how sudden the move was. But he needed her to listen to him and believe him. "And that conversation with Carina? Not a big deal. At all. I'm totally good. This date has been a really good time so far."
He added those two words right at the end after a small pause, realizing how it sounded otherwise, as if the date was over now. He really didn't want that.
"Are you telling me to chill out?" she asked, a slow smile stretching over her face. He spotted the light coming to life in her blue eyes again.
"I would never say that to you." She gave him a dubious look and he giggled, the light in her eyes shining even brighter in response. "No, it isn't chill out. It's more just…be nicer to yourself."
"Noted," she said warmly, and she squeezed his hand again. It felt good. And he squeezed back. "I think I'll take your advice, actually," she said then, pulling him towards her, and he saw abject flirtation there. "I'm gonna be extra nice to myself right now."
"Are you?" He scooted closer, not even bothering to disguise his eagerness. It made her giggle happily.
"Mhm." She nodded, wrapping her other hand in the front of his shirt and pulling until he was flush against her, their noses brushing. "The nicest."
Her lips covered his and he melted against her, wrapping his arms around her lower back and just holding onto her. He felt her arms lazily drape over his shoulders, and then her fingers were playing with the curls at the back of his head.
Chuck couldn't stop the soft groan if he tried.
He could feel her smiling even as they kissed and he didn't care if she knew how good this felt.
Let her know.
Let her know that she sent chills cascading through him just by touching her fingers to his dark curls. Let her know he was seriously resisting the urge to cradle her in his arms, lift her off of the couch altogether, and carry her into his bedroom.
Well, maybe he didn't quite want her to know that part just yet.
She broke the kiss with a satisfied hum, which went straight to his head, and his grin was wide as she pecked his chin, dotting kisses down his jawline. Her arms tightened around his shoulders and she hugged him close, burying her face in his neck, her hair tickling his ear.
Chuck hugged her back just as tightly, pressing his lips against her hair and taking a deep breath.
And he wished he could find a way to make her feel like everything was going to be okay. He didn't know her very well yet, true, but she just seemed to be that type of person who handled things. She took life by the horns and handled things. Whatever was going on with this case, she'd handle it. Just like she handled raising a two year old, supporting her small family.
But he didn't want to overstep.
And he also didn't want to rupture the peace and comfort of this quiet moment. He pressed his fingers into the indentation of the small of her back and massaged her there, earning a quiet, crackling moan.
He didn't know what she was feeling in that moment, but he knew that he didn't want to pull away from this…ever. Her grip around his shoulders was so tight, her fingers digging into his upper back, clinging. Her lips were pressed to the soft skin of his neck in a way that made him shiver pleasantly. And her body just fit so perfectly against his like matching pieces of a puzzle.
Chuck did verbalize one thing, something he felt was safe to verbalize.
"I like this a lot," he muttered against her blond hair, pressing his lips there in a kiss again.
She hummed and squeezed him harder, her lips stretching in a smile against his neck. "Me too." She shifted so that her chin rested on the crook of his neck, her breath fanning the curls behind his ear. He shivered. "And no interruptions."
"Hey, you're a busy woman. The interruptions are bound to happen."
Sighing, she pulled back and gave him a long look. Shit, she was seriously the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen in his entire life, in person or otherwise. "It's the life I've chosen. These are the consequences."
He simply smiled at her. "I feel that." Then he shrugged. "One day I answered the phone at the Nerd Herd desk when I was walking by because nobody else was around, and now I'm sitting on my couch with a badass private investigator's arms around me. Consequences."
Sarah laughed, her head falling back. "Not exactly the consequences I'm talking about there, bud," she giggled, lowering her head again and fixing him with her bright, blue eyes.
"No? Sorry."
She giggled and pulled him in to hug him again, her lips pressed into his curls. Her fingers massaged the back of his neck and he melted in her arms, making her giggle again.
Chuck took a calculated risk then, making his body go totally limp, laying his full weight against her so that she was forced to tip back and flop against the couch cushions with him splayed over her. She squeaked and laughed loudly. She didn't push him off of her, nor did she go tense, so Chuck just stayed like that, his arm falling over the edge of the couch, the back of his hand landing on his floor with a flop.
"I guess I found a special spot, huh?"
"Mmm," he hummed, shifting so that his face was closer to her neck than it was to her chest out of respect once he realized where his head had ended up pillowed. "You found my off button," he teased.
There was a short pause, and then he heard her voice, so close to his ear, murmur, "Did I? Damn it, I was looking for the on button."
Chuck's eyes snapped wide open. And then he got up onto his elbows so that he wasn't crushing her with his weight anymore. She looked at him expectantly.
"You know what, Sarah Walker, private eye? That was pretty good. I'm impressed," he said with a slight chuckle. "On button. Nice." He held up his hand for a high five and she giggled, her eyes drifting shut as she shook her head.
When they opened again, a grin on her face, she slapped her palm against his, but curled her fingers around his hand instead of pulling back. And she very pointedly tugged his hand down to her hip. "That's great to hear, Chuck. I'm glad I impressed you with that. The question remains, however… are you going to do anything about it?"
Chuck blinked, feeling liquid heat flood through him. "Oh."
She looked like she was about to act for him, her bottom lip trapped between her teeth invitingly, but he took the situation by the horns, so to speak, and he dove down to kiss her again. He felt her quick intake of breath and for a split second thought maybe he'd misread her invitation.
But then she giggled and grinned into the kiss, her arms rounding his neck and pulling him down onto her.
Time passed.
He didn't know how much. He didn't care to know.
The only thing he cared about was that her fingers had found his hair again.
She eventually used that trick to make him melt again and he found himself wedged against the back of the couch and the cushions with her body on top of his. Perfectly content, he laughed, nuzzled her nose, and kept kissing her, feeling the mischief in the way she kissed him and touched him.
In the time they spent tangled together on his couch making out, Chuck's entire world shrunk down to the perimeter of the couch he was lying on. Nothing else mattered but the lips he was kissing, the eyes that kept looking into his, the sparkle there, the fingers tangling in his hair and rubbing the back of his neck, the hand on his chest, the arms around him, the weight of her body pressing into his, the way the hair that escaped her bun tickled the backs of his hands and his face…
He didn't know what he'd done or what had happened, but he was still drowning in her when he felt her freeze for just a moment against him, her lips stilling, her hands tensing over his body. And then she pulled back just a bit, panting. "It's getting late," she murmured, pulling her arm out from under him and glancing at her watch. He blinked his eyes open and watched as hers bugged out. "Oh. It…is late."
Chuck slipped his hand over the back of her neck and pulled her back down to continue kissing her. "What's time?" he muttered into her lips. "I'm…unfamiliar…with the concept."
She giggled breathily, kissing him back, but then she pulled just far enough away for their lips to part. "I think I have to go before it gets much later…" She hummed as he kissed her again, and then she slipped her finger between their mouths, pressing down against his lips and grinning at him. "Or I'll be too tired to drive home safely." Chuck bit his lip, her words finally settling in his brain. He whined a little, making her giggle. "Trust me, I'm right there with you."
But she braced her palms against the couch and began to push herself up. Chuck couldn't resist following her, kissing her even as she sat up, sitting up right along with her. Kneeling on the couch now, she wrapped her arms around his neck and nudged his lips apart, their tongues meeting.
A thrill went through him, and he nearly lost any semblance of willpower or control, his heart and body urging him to ask her to stay. Especially when he felt her clutch a fistful of his shirt to pull him in ever closer.
She made a reluctant sound as she broke the kiss, though, and he knew he couldn't do it. He shouldn't do it.
"I have to go," she whispered, still pressing warm kisses to his lips, not seeming to want to go as much as he didn't want her to go.
It wasn't that there was a natural progression to what they were doing that might end up with them in his bed. Though he was a straight, red-blooded man and that wasn't absent from his mind in the slightest.
He just wanted to be in this same space with her, he needed more time, and he wanted her to stay. He needed it. Being with her, being around her, made him feel superhuman, and yet…just plain human…all at once.
He didn't understand it. He just knew he wanted more of it.
But he could feel something in her, even as she kept kissing him, even as she had a hard time getting up from the couch and peeling herself away from him. A hesitancy. And he thought maybe the potential of sex might be part of it.
So he didn't ask her to stay.
He wouldn't.
Sarah finally got to her feet, shyly patting at her hair that had gotten adorably mussed during their make out. As he glanced at his watch, he realized they'd been lying there for well over an hour and a half, totally lost to the world. And thankfully, there'd been no more interruptions.
But now came the worst type of interruption because she was leaving.
And he didn't know when they'd get the opportunity to see each other again. He still had that phone conversation they'd had when he was in his car last week in his brain. It was singed there. Branded.
He let her go to the door in peace, following and watching as she slung her bag over her shoulder. And when she looked up at him finally, he stepped in to kiss her some more. She let out a soft "mmmm" and kissed him back, her fingers playing with his hair again, and slipping down to tease the rim of his ear.
She managed to get his door open and pulled him into the threshold, hanging halfway out into the hallway. "Mm. I-I need to go," she muttered pitifully into his kiss. And he kept kissing her, feeling her smile.
But then her hand was on his chest and she gently pushed him back until his shoulders were pressed against the doorframe. The look on her face was a bit saucy as she raised her eyebrow at him, an exceptionally pleased smile in her face, a glint in her blue eyes. "Stay there," she enunciated in a deep, slow tone.
Chuck held his hands up by his shoulders in surrender. "Staying."
Her eyes dropped to his lips as his tongue darted out to lick them, and he saw it, he felt it. It was like he was sitting on a stove that was turned on.
"Can I at least walk you down to your car?"
She giggled, waiting for him to scamper in to grab his apartment keys, and then they walked down together, no conversation between them, just looks of longing.
And when she stopped at her car, she turned to face him again, and this time, she kissed him. It took another fifteen minutes for her to finally get into her car and leave, and Chuck touched his deliciously swollen lips as he stood on the sidewalk and watched her car turn out of sight.
A/N: I appreciate reviews a lot. Or PMs. Either. Both. Whatever you have time for. Thanks!
-SC
