Sarah Versus the Harts
By Steampunk . Chuckster
Summary: A one-shot AU of a crossover between CHUCK and HART TO HART. AU. Charah.
A/N: This was another request from a reader. Thanks for reading all of these. Hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck or Hart to Hart, and I don't own the characters in either show. I'm not making any money from this.
They were going to see right through her.
Chuck Bartowski had been such a piece of cake. But he wasn't like his godparents. And she had no idea what to expect from his sister the neurosurgeon.
That was why she'd tagged him and not the rest of them. It was why she'd made sure to cordon him off from the rest of them, so that when she targeted him, they wouldn't be around to point out to him that she was just trying to take advantage of his trusting nature.
Well, she had the start-up money now. He'd given it to her without Jonathan and Jennifer Hart having anything to do with it. And Eleanor Bartowski hadn't become embroiled in their deal, either.
Now she had all the money she needed for her local business that until just about three weeks ago hadn't actually even been real. It had been an outline. A well-thought-out and planned facade. Enough to trick easily the smartest man she'd ever met. His downfall was just how much he trusted people.
And then it had become her downfall too.
Although, from where she sat now, it was less of a downfall, and more of an epiphany, a deeper understanding of who she was and what kind of a person she was capable of being.
It wasn't just that she'd fallen in love with him as they went together to seek out possible venues for her self-defense courses business, pinpointing lower-income, marginalized areas because that was how she'd sealed the deal with him on the start-up capital. A loan she'd had every intention of absconding with the moment it popped up in the fake bank account she'd created.
She wasn't absconding with it now. And it was insane to her that it had been such a seamless decision for her to make ultimately. To stick this out and actually see her martial arts for marginalized Los Angeles citizens dojo idea through. She had the skill sets, she was good with money—well, she was good at getting it to flow into her bank account, at least. And she was quite the pickpocket, too.
It wasn't just that she wanted to keep Chuck. It wasn't just that she wanted to be with him, stay here with him. It was that she wanted to be something more than she'd ever been, and she wanted to actually give something back. Finally.
He'd taught her that, back when he thought she was a bright-eyed, young bad ass martial artist who wanted to start her own business. Before she told him everything.
"I don't know if I can do this," she breathed, halting halfway to his car.
Chuck stopped and turned to face her, his brow furrowed in confusion. But then the confusion cleared and she saw panic. "Wait, this this? Staying here? Starting a real life in—?"
"No, not that. I already told you, Chuck. I'm…done with that. I can't stay in the con game. I've turned a corner and there's no going back for me now. And then there's…" She sighed, reaching out and grabbing his hand tightly. "There's you. I'm not leaving this place without you." One of his slow smiles that made her knees weak slipped over his face and he stepped in closer to her, the breeze playing with the curls at the top of his head. "No, I just meant…meeting your sister, the Harts. Your family. They're all…" She huffed. "Well, to be frank, their side business of solving murders is kind of intimidating."
He made a face, tilting his head. "Okay, that's fair."
"I'm a con artist. The reason I'm even here in the first place is because I was trying to con you into giving me a shit ton of money for a business that wasn't going to exist. I was literally planning to take the money and disappear."
He pressed his lips together and nodded, conceding her point. "You did a pretty good job of it, too. I literally gave you the money so you could've ran. Easy."
"Yeah." She ran her hand up his chest and under his blazer, pouting a little at him. "You really need to be more careful about who you trust, buddy boy."
He bent his knees, leaning back and making a high pitched hum of doubt. "I dunno. I trusted you and look how that turned out. You didn't exactly betray my trust. You're here. You're starting this business. You're with me."
"Touché," she said, smirking. "Took you long enough to ask me out on a date. I'm no traditionalist or anything, but it felt important you made the first move."
"I did make the first move."
"That was sex. That's not the same thing as having a real relationship." Then she reared her head back and gave him a dubious look. "That wasn't what did it, was it? That wasn't what made you give me the money…?"
Chuck laughed, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and hugging her to his side, leading her the rest of the way to his car. "If only I was that easy. Nah. I don't throw money at bad ideas. Jonathan Hart, CEO of Hart Industries, taught me better than that, at least. But I wasn't exactly upset about the sudden events of that night." He punctuated his flirtatious tone with a gentle kiss right behind her ear and she shivered.
Sudden indeed. She had not been prepared for how quickly she'd dropped every last bit of sense she had (and she had quite a bit of it) to hop into bed with her mark. She hadn't meant to. That definitely wasn't how she operated as a con artist. Absolutely no damn way. And yet, the flirtation between them had crescendoed to an inferno. She'd known then that it was completely foolish for her to sleep with him, and she'd done it anyway.
The bullshit in movies about being swept off your feet had always seemed like just that…a whole lot of bullshit.
And then Chuck had done it to her.
For all intents and purposes, he admitted to her that she'd done it right back.
Coming clean, telling him every last bit of what she'd meant to do to him, knowing full well it might crush his world view and ruin his life…but that she'd decided on a better course of action, one that kept him in her life and set her on the path of most resistance…but on the straight and narrow…it had been the best decision she'd ever made in her life. It had been quite the first date, watching the hurt, confusion, and intrigue crashing over his face under the Urban Lights artfully positioned outside of the LACMA.
That night, she'd shown him her soul, and she'd given him her heart. Officially. She thought her heart was probably his that night weeks earlier when they'd slept together. She never would've made such a stupid choice like that otherwise.
"I can't believe how easy it was for you to get me to make that absolutely nuts decision," she admitted now, shaking her head as he opened the passenger door for her.
She slid inside into her seat and he knelt down so they were face to face.
"That was not easy. Frankly, I'm not even sure what I did. I'm just really glad I did it." And then he let out a low whistle and rolled his eyes to the back of his head.
Sarah blushed as she laughed, fixing the skirt of her dress so he could close her door.
Her nerves got worse as they neared Bel Air, where the Harts had invited them for dinner so that they could meet their Charles's new girlfriend. She'd heard tale of the Bel Air property self-made millionaire Jonathan Hart and his retired journalist wife Jennifer had bought all the way back in the seventies when they were married. And now she would be seeing it in person. Walking into it. Eating the dinner the Harts were apparently preparing themselves for the occasion.
Because she was dating their godson. Really dating him. Not just angling for that giant bank book. But angling for him. A life with him.
Chuck's hand slid over hers, warm and reassuring, and he squeezed it. "Hey. Listen, the Harts taught me and Ellie everything we know. They've looked out for us, paid for our college and El's med school. They've been really good to us. They're our…de facto second parents. I guess. In light of our actual parents skipping out. But I don't want you freaking out about this meeting okay?"
"Too late," she chirped. "I am freaking out. I'm not just the new girlfriend meeting the parents, here, Chuck. I'm the new girlfriend who spent her entire life in the con game and had every intention of conning their…de facto son until I fell in love with him."
"They don't know that," he tried to reason, putting both hands back on the wheel and shrugging.
She sent him the flattest look she was capable of. "Chuck. Finding out who is and isn't a con artist, or a murderer, or a thief, or a spy…that's their bread and freaking butter. It's what they do."
"Not so much anymore. They're old now."
"Chuck!"
"I know! I know, I know. I'm not trying to trivialize it. I know you're worried. But this is kind of your thing, isn't it? Playing a part?"
"That's just it, Chuck. I'm not playing a part anymore. I'm being me. The real me. Being some other person? Easy. But being myself? I don't know. They're just gonna see through me like I'm a God damn window."
"Stained glass."
"What?" She gave him a weirded out look.
"If you were a window, you'd definitely be stained glass. Beautiful and dramatic."
"I should've just taken the money and run. Oh my God."
He cracked up and reached over to put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm just kidding! Look. I am crazy about you, Sarah Walker. No matter what they say, no matter if they think they know something about you, I'll just deny the hell out of it."
"You're making this worse, Chuck, you really are."
"I'm trying to help, though."
He finally pulled around to the house she'd only seen pictures of, ogling the sloped wood roof and the beautiful roundabout driveway, the view off to the side, yearning for a home like that. And now here she was, sitting in the passenger seat of her boyfriend's car, preparing to meet the occupants and hope to God they didn't pin her as a con artist the moment they laid eyes on her.
She was so fucked.
"I'm not trying to make you the kind of guy who lies to the people you love."
"Well, you're a person I love, and I'd lie to just about anybody if it meant you were safe."
Sarah felt his words hit her right in the chest and she sagged back into her seat, melting as she turned to look at him as he pulled the car to a stop and turned it off. The second he turned the key and pulled it out, she leaned in, cupping his face, and she kissed him. When she pulled back, she could see the way his brown eyes sparkled. "Every single day, you make me more and more glad I made this choice."
He beamed at her. "I'll try to keep that goin'."
She leaned in and pecked him on the lips one more time, pushing her fingers through his curls, before she moved back to sit properly in her seat and unbuckled her seatbelt. "Chuck, tell me everything's gonna be okay. I need to hear it in your voice."
"Which voice? My Kermit voice? Well, there, everything is gonna be a-okay," he said in his Kermit voice and she just glared at him, shaking her head. He chuckled and she had to bite her lip to keep the smile threatening from becoming a laugh. The asshole. "Okay, I'm being serious. It will be okay. Everything is going to be okay, Sarah. We're in this together, the whole way through. They love me. They won't dare do anything to hurt me."
"And if they know I'm a con artist and think I'm out to hurt you?"
He huffed, looking down thoughtfully. "I'm gonna have to persuade them that you aren't."
Sarah stressed for the next two minutes, getting out of the car, coming around to take the hand Chuck offered her, squeezing it so tight he might permanently lose any feeling in it by the time the night was through, and stepping up to the door.
Chuck opened it up, stepping inside first with a chirped, "Hey, Mr. and Mrs. H! Your favorite kid is here!"
Sarah followed him, inside, stepping away just long enough for him to shut the door behind her, and then she was right back at his side, silently willing for his comfort and strength of character to rub off on her.
Ellie came around the corner first, a grin making her beautiful features that much more beautiful as she giggled and closed the distance, hugging her brother tight. "Right on time. Like always."
"And you were early. No surprise there."
Sarah wondered if Ellie had come to her godparents' home early so that they could solidify a plan of action to tackle this issue of Chuck coming home with a woman. A woman who'd borrowed a shit ton of money from him for her start-up.
Ellie finally pulled back and turned to look at her. All Sarah could do was grin, pulling her shoulders up to her ears in a shy shrug, clasping her hands in front of her so tightly, her knuckles were turning white.
"Ellie, this is Sarah, my girlfriend. Sarah, my sister, Ellie."
Chuck's hand slid across her shoulder and back, comforting, and then he pulled her in to his side, smiling adoringly at her.
"Hi, Ellie. It's nice to meet you." She stuck her hand out.
"Nice to meet you, too." The brunette took her hand gladly, shaking it gently, and then she turned wide eyes to Chuck and nudged him. He blushed, the cutie. Then again, she thought she might be blushing too. "Jennifer and Jonathan will be out in a second. They were taking the roast out of the oven when you came in hollering." She leaned in and whispered, "They're old now so it's harder."
"WHO'S OLD?"
A man with grey hair that seemed to swoop perfectly on top of his hair and a charming smile came around the corner then, an apron bundled up in one fist. He wore nice slacks and a dark sweater vest over a blue button-up. That was absolutely Jonathan Hart. She'd seen photographs of him while doing research for this job. Or what was the job. The job that had quickly become the rest of her life if she played her cards right with the dark head of curls directly to her left.
"I was just kidding, Jonathan."
He smirked at Ellie. "Sure you were. So this is Sarah."
He gave Chuck a thump on his shoulder in a fatherly way, then stuck his hand out to take Sarah's.
"Hello, Mr. Hart. I've heard a lot about you."
"Don't believe what the tabloids say. Jennifer and I only bite criminals." He gave her a charming, toothy grin.
She could only manage an uncomfortable, "Hehehe" at that as Chuck turned so only she would see his wide eyed look.
She was so so so so fucked.
"How's that dojo coming along? Charles has told us all about it." Jonathan rubbed his hands together, genuine interest on his face.
"Oh, um, it's…"
"Leave the poor girl be with the shop talk, dear, at least until she's had a drink." Jennifer Hart finally gracefully sashayed her way out of the kitchen, her hair still a deep auburn color in spite of being in her seventies, and her face somehow devoid of wrinkles, save for a few around her eyes. "Hi, Sarah. Jennifer Hart. You're even prettier than I'd imagined with how much our Charles rattled on and on about you."
"Oh. Stop it," she giggled, wanting to turn and run in the other direction. Instead, she shook the woman's hand, squeezing Chuck's arm hard enough he'd most likely have a bruise there later.
"What'll you drink?" Jennifer asked then, even as she leaned in to kiss Chuck on the cheek, wiping the lipstick she left there with her finger.
"Whatever you have. I'm not picky."
"Well, we know that already. Look at this guy you picked out. HA HA." Jonathan grabbed Chuck by the shoulder and shook it, earning a flat look.
"Thanks, Mr. H."
Sarah couldn't help but laugh. "I consider myself damn lucky he caught my eye." She'd gone through quite a few heirs and potential marks before she'd landed on him. Maybe it was the curls. She'd picked him because of those dark curls of his.
She inwardly smirked at the thought. It was actually that he seemed like he was just enough of a soft-hearted fool that she wouldn't have to worry about tossing romantic bullshit into her repertoire with him because he didn't seem to need incentive to be kind.
And then that was what made her fall in love with him as fast and as hard as she had. And every day, she fell harder.
As they all moved into the living room, Jennifer turned on her heel. "Everyone sit down and I'll get the drinks."
But Ellie grabbed her gently by her arm and guided her to sit in a plush chair. "Nope. I'll get the drinks. You all sit and chat." Then she paused. "I might need an extra set of hands."
Sarah didn't know why Chuck bumped her hip with his fist, but she knew what he wanted. "I'll help you out," she chirped. "I've only got two hands like everyone else, but I know my way around a martini."
"Are you sure? You're a guest!" Jennifer tried, but Sarah waved her off, smiling. She squeezed Chuck's hand, but she didn't miss the opportunity of having her back to everyone, sending him a look for that nudging thing he'd just done to her.
Leaving him behind to follow Ellie to the kitchen, Sarah wondered if he'd done that because he wanted her to be alone with his sister, to get to know her better maybe. Or maybe he'd done it because he wanted to be alone with his parents, maybe to talk to them about her. And say what, she didn't know. She was stressed either way.
As she stepped into the kitchen, she saw that Ellie knew her way around the place well enough that she'd already grabbed most of what they would need. "Chuck is a big fan of the classic old fashioned," Ellie informed her.
Sarah raised her eyebrows. "Is he? I actually didn't know that," she admitted. "He always gets just regular whiskey on the rocks or plain when we've had drinks."
"That's because he only likes it made by a select few people. Himself, me, Jennifer. That's it," she giggled.
"Not Mr. Hart?"
"Says he makes it too strong," Ellie said, and they laughed together. As Sarah moved to help her out, handing her what she needed and lining up the five glasses, the smell of the roast that sat on the stove, still cooking even out of the oven pervading her senses, she let herself get lulled into a state of calm. Maybe tonight would be fine. Maybe these were just kind people who loved Chuck and she needed to chill the hell out.
"You know, Sarah, I'm really interested in how you learned about Chuck when you were getting involved in this start-up of yours. This, um… Chuck said it's like a martial arts dojo?"
"Oh." Oh. Shit. Oh. But she'd done this with Chuck. She could do it with Chuck's sister. Piece of cake. Although something in the brunette's green eyes was more discerning than ever existed in Chuck's open, kind brown eyes. She was more apt to spot a lie. Damn.
"I didn't get it wrong, did I?" Ellie asked, genuinely concerned.
"No, you got it right. I mean, I'm emphasizing self defense. That's going to be the biggest push, at least at the beginning. Once I get one, two classes off the ground, work my way into three, four, start pulling in more instructors, if we can keep the fees low, we can really build on that and start adding things like aikido, jiu-jitsu, taekwondo, judo…" She shyly tucked her hair behind her ear and cleared her throat.
"You can do all of those?"
"Mhm. My speciality is self defense, and aikido, but I'm well-versed enough in the others to teach."
Ellie's jaw fell open as she gaped at her, nearly spilling the whiskey. "Whoops!"
Sarah rushed to grab some paper towels from the nearby roll and helped Ellie out.
"Thanks. Wow. I'm sloppy tonight. But, um, my first question. What brought you to Chuck's doorstep?"
A lot of research on rich guys with rich parents and/or guardians. That was the truth. And she'd told Chuck that. It hadn't gone all that well for a good chunk of time that night as they stood there airing everything out. Well. She'd aired everything out. He'd been truthful with her from the get-go.
"I heard through the grapevine that he was good for a loan if you needed to start a small business. And God, you have no idea how many different things I went through before I finally lowered myself to asking someone else for a loan." She forced a blush onto her face. "I've always done everything on my own. It was a real punch to my self-esteem. But this business is important to me. I think everyone needs to know some self defense."
"Is it true you flipped my brother in the first meeting?"
Sarah winced, giggling. "Yeah, it is."
Ellie slow clapped. "Not how I picked up my boyfriend, but I have to give you points for creativity."
Sarah laughed. "I wasn't trying to pick him up. I had no romantic designs on him whatsoever. I just wanted the loan for my business, and I wanted to prove to him that I was good for it. Or at least, I will be."
The other woman eyed her for a long moment, then nodded, before going back to fixing drinks. "I'm glad to hear it. I have to be honest, when Chuck said he was dating someone, I was so ecstatic I was practically vibrating," she drawled, snorting. Sarah grinned. "But when I asked who and he told me it was someone he'd loaned a lot of money to for a start-up, I was, um, admittedly a little worried."
Sarah's stomach dropped to her feet. "Oh. Yeah, I-I can understand that."
"I'm not trying to put you on the spot, don't worry," Ellie said quietly, leaning in close as if conspiratorially. But it just made Sarah more nervous rather than less, which she assumed was the opposite effect intended. "It's just that my brother's been really…generous with the money the Harts have given us. We're really lucky to have them, to have had them all these years, stepping in when our parents flew the coop, so to speak." Sarah could still hear the bitterness in Ellie's voice, see it in her face. It seemed Chuck wasn't the only one who still had anger over the departure of their parents. "I'm just bringing it up because… Look, I'll just be blunt now and I'll ask for your forgiveness after. But Chuck's had a lot of people take advantage of him, and his last serious girlfriend threw him under a bus, then had the bus back up over him, and run him over again."
Sarah wasn't sure what Ellie was getting at, but then she also knew at the same time. And she knew she had no right to be offended by it, considering what she'd had every intention of doing to Chuck.
"He really believes in you. He believes in what you're doing, the way you're bringing this necessary skill to a community that would otherwise be unable to afford it. And he trusts you. Please…please don't break that trust. I know it's none of my business, but he's my brother, and God, it would just… He likes you a whole lot. I know. The way he talks about you…" She took a deep breath. "It would destroy him. Please don't leave him high and dry." Ellie nibbled on her lip, regret in her face. "I shouldn't have done that. I'm prying. I'm overstepping."
"No," Sarah said quickly. And she tentatively reached out to lightly drape her fingers over Ellie's hand that was wrapped around the bottle of bitters. "He's-He's really lucky he has you. And the Harts. People looking out for him, caring about him. You're right, he's generous. Overly generous. And probably overly trusting, too. I'm still not sure what I did to deserve his trust. But I'm going to do everything I can to deserve it," she said earnestly. Ellie's eyes dropped to where they were touching and Sarah pulled her hand back, clasping her hands together at her stomach, feeling a raw sense of just how little she deserved that trust now. And that wasn't Ellie's fault. It was her own.
"I believe you. Jennifer might be a bit of a harder sell. She'd probably cut somebody to keep that guy safe. They both would. Eh, so would I," she said, shrugging and wrinkling her nose. "We're all really protective. That's what I'm trying to say. And—"
Jennifer waltzed in then. "You girls need some help?"
"No!" Ellie burst out. "No, that's—I mean, two hands should be fine."
"Hm. Two hands for five glasses?" Jennifer eyed her goddaughter dubiously.
"I've tended bars," Sarah offered, not sure how that would be received in this room with these women. Maybe she should've kept that to herself. "I can handle three old fashioned. Easy."
"Well now I'm seeing just to see it in action," Mrs. Hart responded, crossing her arms, impressed.
The three of them left the kitchen, Sarah easily managing three drinks while Ellie carried the last two, and they joined Mr. Hart and Chuck, handing them out, Chuck appraising her a certain way as he saw her with the three drinks.
As they stood to move to the dining room where they'd be eating, Chuck paused. "Wait, did you make this or did Ellie?"
"Don't worry, picky drinker. Your sister made it. I was only the sous pourer. She told me about your old fashioned thing."
He winced. "Guilty. I mean, you have plenty of time to learn. I'll teach you."
Scoffing at him, she rolled her eyes with a giggle and followed them into the other room and joining them at the table.
Maybe she had more work to do here than she was hoping she would have, but the Harts would kind and welcoming, if a little dubious about the nature of how she and Chuck had met. And Ellie seemed to warm up more as the meal went on.
Determination was coming to life in her, though, a real and abiding determination that filled her up as she looked at Chuck, seeing him in his element, with his family, his people. She was going to be a part of this, no matter how long it took.
And no matter how worried the Harts and Ellie, or anyone else, was about her intentions, she wasn't going anywhere. She was getting this business off the ground. She was living her life on the straight and narrow path. She was going to make Chuck proud, but more importantly, she'd make herself proud.
And maybe, just maybe, the Harts might need a third in their side business of solving crime.
A/N: Thanks for reading. Again, this won't be a longer fic. I've got too many other fics going on. But please review. I really appreciate it!
-SC