Posted October 2, 2021
A/N: Ellie asked Sarah for help with Devon's stalker. Chuck said he would make sure Sarah wouldn't go too far. What would Chuck do?
Chuck and Sarah have their mission. davida6 had his: Once again doing a great job as beta.
The next day
In her car in the Buy More parking lot, Sarah ended her call with Ellie.
Chuck had told her this morning he would handle the situation with the stalker. Sarah was skeptical, but she figured she would humor Chuck, then they would do it together over lunch, before the afternoon appointments at the hospital. To Sarah's surprise, Chuck had successfully taken care of it.
In the phone call that Sarah had just finished, Ellie had thanked Sarah for taking care of it. This woman, named Jennifer, had cancelled her appointment with Devon this afternoon, meaning that they had cancelled the "intervention" appointments with neurology and psychiatry. The appointments were set up to intercede before she went to get her heart checked again. With her no longer coming in to see Devon, there was no need for the other appointments. The stalker wasn't interested in Devon anymore.
In her head, Sarah called her "Jennifer." She might have gone by "Jenny," but that sounded like the name of a con woman. This woman might be trouble and wasn't a reunion queen, so "Jennifer" seemed better.
Since Sarah no longer had to knock on some strange woman's door because she was a threat to her future sister-in-law, the engaged couple had time to do something else. That would be fun. Sarah needed to go inside and properly thank Chuck for a job well done—give him a preview of later—one that would be acceptable for her PDA-averse fiancé. He was always stopping her in public, but at least she had gotten him to not worry about PDA as much.
Right inside the front door of the Buy More, Sarah stopped and surveyed the store. With her Orange Orange cover over, she didn't have the opportunity to do this anymore. Before, she already knew where Chuck was because of security feeds she could see on the register in the OO or in Castle. This time, she honestly didn't know.
It was fun before and was fun again. Whenever she saw him like this, his eyes—his entire face—would light up. Sarah's stomach would do a little flip. Then they would share a CIA-sanctioned kiss. Now, no sanctioning was necessary, and she'd still get to passionately kiss Chuck, no matter what his PDA-averse sensibilities told him. That was one of the things she had gotten him to do.
Sarah spotted Chuck finishing up with a customer by the video cameras, and he didn't disappoint. He met her halfway up the center aisle, and they shared a not-for-the-cover kiss.
Chuck had a big smile, proving that even though they lived together and were getting married in a few days, he could still make her stomach do a flip. He said, "I have good news. We don't have to go to that woman's house. It's been taken care of. We can eat somewhere else."
"I heard. I just got off the phone with Ellie. Wherever we eat, it should be fast. I need to thank you fully." Sarah tried raising and lowering her eyebrows, like Chuck was great at.
Chuck frowned at her effort. "That's cute, but before you become a Bartowski, or before I become a Walker, or whatever we do, you need to work on your 'Bartowski Eyebrow Dance.'"
That was probably true. "You're right. Can you recommend a tutor… for private lessons?"
"I suppose I could suffer through it," Chuck smiled, and leaned in for another soft kiss.
Sarah grabbed Chuck's tie, so her second dose of Chuck's lips would last longer. Unfortunately, they were interrupted.
"Sorry, no can do, best bud and future-best-bud-in-law." It was Morgan, in his manager's three-piece suit. "While you two were and Lester high-tailed it out the front. We never got another Greta. Chuck, that means you're the only member of the Nerd Herd who's still in the store. I need you to delay your lunch shift until they return in an hour.
Chuck looked upset, but he nodded in resignation. Sarah was disappointed, too, but she spun it to the positive. "I'll bring food in an hour, and we can eat down in Castle… and do other things in the supply closet…" She tried the eyebrow dance again.
"That was better," Chuck said. "I can't wait to see what you have in mind." They shared a quick kiss, and Sarah said goodbye to Morgan.
Right outside the front doors, Sarah saw someone that made her do a 180 and follow that person back into the store. Chuck was at the Nerd Herd desk, helping a customer. (Of course, he was already working, less than two minutes later. He never slacked off, like everyone else at the Buy More.) Sarah followed the woman to where she waited for Chuck.
Sarah took "second place" in the waiting line, leaning against the long curved front desk, standing next to the woman with short, blonde hair. Chuck looked over, seeing Sarah, and smiled. Then, he saw the woman next to Sarah, and his smile disappeared. He jerked his head quickly and looked back at the customer before he noticed the smirk on Sarah's face.
Sarah spoke to the other woman. "It looks like this is going to be a minute. What are you here for?"
Sarah heard the other woman quietly say, "him," under her breath. Then she turned to Sarah and said, "My cell phone isn't working." She held up a flip phone.
Oh, no. Not that. It had to be a prop. Sarah was very familiar with the technique. It worked for her, and it did for Lou. If she ever had any say about what happened at the Nerd Herd, there would be a sign that said they don't support servicing cell phones. It was a good thing that she was there to head this off. Chuck was too nice and wouldn't do what was necessary. That's obviously what happened this morning, when he "took care of things" for Ellie but didn't really "take care of things."
Sarah said, "Ah, the Intellicell. I know how to fix that." She pulled the phone out of the other woman's hand. Then she leaned over the counter and reached underneath, finding what she was looking for: a precision screwdriver.
Getting to work, Sarah said, "See there is a screw that pops loose. You just need to give it a few twists… and…" She slammed the phone shut. "There. Good as new." She handed it back. She knew she didn't really fix anything, but she also knew it wasn't broken. The whole idea was to make it so the stalker had no excuse to wait around. Sarah had done what had to be done.
The other woman looked at Sarah with a bewildered face. "Do you work here? You knew where a screwdriver was without looking. I didn't know you're in the Nerd Herd. I don't know what they make women wear here, but aren't the white shirts and grey ties so cute?"
It was weird enough that one visit from Chuck caused this woman to jump from Devon to him. Then again, one visit to the ER caused her to jump from her ex, who probably did a good thing in dumping her, to Devon. Sarah told the other woman, "I never worked here, but I work nearby. I worked in another place in the plaza for three years. And I have 'special' privileges."
The woman held up her phone and said, "What did you fix? This isn't an Intellicell."
It looked like the ruse was over. Sarah said, "I know. You're right. Let me see that again."
Sarah pulled the flip phone from this woman's hand again. This time—no ruse. Sarah opened it and broke it in half. Now, this stalker wouldn't ask a certain Nerd Herd Supervisor for help because no one could fix that.
The woman's mouth dropped open, not sure what to say. She couldn't voice a syllable, in several attempts. Sarah motioned for Morgan to come over. The man in charge, the manager, knew who was really in charge, the woman who had threatened him with a stiletto before, so he came over.
"What seems to be the problem?" Morgan politely asked.
"This bottle-blonde took my broken phone out of my hand and made it so it could not be repaired."
Morgan ignored the strange woman and looked at Sarah for her explanation. Sarah made her hair blonder, but it's not like she had dark hair or was a brunette. And like this woman could talk. Sarah said, "This crazy lady was causing problems at the hospital where Ellie and Awesome work. Chuck talked to her, and she ended up coming here with a broken phone. You know what that means, don't you Morgan? You were there when I did that."
Morgan nodded. "Yeah. I heard about Licorice Hair, too." Sarah didn't know that nickname, but she could figure out what deli meat smuggler that referred to. She hoped he meant the color not the flavor. Zondra told her once about some guy who liked to lick... Sarah shuttered. She didn't want Morgan's explanation. Morgan got the picture to get off that subject. "Right. Ok. You did the right thing. Now—"
Sarah gave Morgan his orders. "Now you need to escort Jennifer out of the store and make it clear she's not welcome here."
The stalker, whose name was Jennifer, was shocked that her name was known. Morgan said, "You heard the Valkyrie. Let's go." Morgan motioned to escort Jennifer out the front. She hesitated, so he resorted to a real threat, even if she didn't realize how big of a threat it was. "Any minute, two of our other Nerd Herd associates may return to help you, and I would introduce—no I don't need to introduce. The restraining orders waiting to happen will introduce themselves, and then you will run for your life. I'm doing you a favor by asking you to leave before they get here."
Jennifer took a long look at Morgan, gauged he was serious, and walked with him out the front door. After she was gone, Chuck came over to Sarah, who was still at the front of the desk.
Sarah gave him a long kiss—more than he typically tolerated in public—more than when she greeted him at the store, after not seeing him for weeks while looking for his mom. When Chuck pulled back, he lightly cleared his throat. "Yeah. Um. Yeah. Not that I don't like that, but that other person, was that—"
"Yes. That was the stalker. No bodily damage. I don't know if the cell phone which I broke in half was her real one or a prop, but in either case, she's gone."
"A cell phone? Right. Ok. I'm sure you did the right thing."
Sarah gave Chuck a closed mouth smile. Of course, she did. Instead of dwelling on that, she said, "I'll be back in 49 minutes." She gave Chuck a peck on the lips, turned, and proudly walked out of the Buy More again.
A/N: Chuck diverted the stalker's attention from Devon. Sarah diverted the stalker's attention from Chuck. Now what?
Song: "Stuck Like Glue" by Sugarland (Still. This story is different from the song, but it was inspired by it. Glue is hard to get off.)