A/N: We're screaming down the hill in the rollercoaster. Answers to questions incoming. Well, at least, some answers to some questions. Come along for the ride.

Disclaimer: "How much Chuck would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck Chuck? Not sure. Is it an African or European woodchuck? What's the airspeed velocity of an unladen Chuck? Does it matter if Chuck is chuckling and eating Chuckles candy? The woodchuck chucked me Chuck, once. I chucked Chuck right back. I better stop before they chuck me in the chuck wagon for excessive chuckling. Who owns Chuck? Chuck if I know. I know I don't own Chuck. I make no money from Chuck. I make no sense, either.

Chapter 3 – Bette Davis Eyes

October 1

Time stood still. The silence dragged on. It seemed that the world was holding its breath, along with the people in the room. Then … a voice … dripping honey.

"Big hands. Big Feet. Big Boy. Mmmm. Let's Eat!"

Carina.

Of course, it was Carina.

It was always Carina.

There were giggles and, just like that, the spell was broken. Sarah's time started again. She shook her head to clear it and focused on the tall man in front of her. He looked like a student. As he had gotten closer to Sarah, the hairs on back of her neck and arms stood on end. The air felt truly electric.

She took a moment to look him over more closely. He was tall, long limbed, and gangly. He was wearing dark jeans and classic black Chuck Taylors with what looked like a Stanford athletic warm up jacket over a dark tee-shirt with some writing on it in block letters that was partially obscured by the jacket. When he had stopped in front of her, he had placed a massive backpack at his feet. His curly hair looked a little wild, like he ran his fingers through it constantly and couldn't keep it neat.

"I'd like to run my fingers through those curls," Sarah thought. "Wait? What? Where'd that come from?"

Sarah looked back at his eyes, tentatively. They really were warm. And dark. And dreamy. Bedroom eyes. She swallowed thickly.

"Bedroom eyes. Bedroom eyes? Dreamy? Get ahold of yourself, Walker. Where is this coming from?" Sarah silently grumped. "… Mom … That's where." She remembered her mom talking about her father Hal's eyes. Called them bedroom eyes. "I saw his bedroom eyes. Then there was you." Her mom had told her. Sarah shook her head, again, pink lightly coloring her cheeks.

"Bedroom eeyyeess," mental mom crooned.

Shaking her head one more time, Sarah focused on the man. "Well? What's your deal?"

The man stood frozen, his mouth gaping, staring disbelieving at Sarah for a moment longer. She watched his eyes slowly focus on her. He closed his mouth and swallowed. Then he opened his mouth again.

"PleasePleasePlease! Y- You got- gotta h- help m- me. Is there … um … there s- somewhere in h- here th- that I … uh … I can h- hide? Th- They're after me!" he begged, wincing.

Taken aback, Sarah demanded, "Who's after you? What are you talking about?"

"Please. Please! I—I'll explain every—everything. I swear. I j- just … uh … a p- place to … to hide from them a—and c—calm my—myself." He stuttered.

Sarah was confused. Her questions were coming rapid fire now. "Who's chasing you? What's going on? Are the campus cops after you? What did you do?"

"IsweartoGodIsweartoGod! I. Swear. To. God! I'm nu—not a cr—criminal. I—I've d—done nu—nothing w—wrong!" His pleading sounded increasingly desperate. "P—Please. I—I'll ex—explain every—everything. I j—just nu—need to h—hide. Th—They'll be h—here any s—second!"

She pursed her lips and chewed on the inside of her cheek, considering what he had said. After a long moment, Sarah relented. "Ok, come with me. There's a place you can hide. But you'll tell us what's going on afterwards. All right?" She started walking back toward the front door. Carina glanced at Zondra; her eyebrow raised. Zondra just shrugged.

"S—Sure. Any—Anything." The man winced, hefting his burden and following along behind Sarah.

Sarah walked to a door, marked 'Maintenance' to the right at the front of the building. Pulling out a set of keys, she unlocked the door. Gesturing, she moved aside for the man to enter the room.

"L—Lock it. P—Please." He said as he placed his backpack on the ground and sat down.

"If, you say so," Sarah shrugged. She closed the door and locked him in, leaving him darkness. Sarah vaguely noticed the charged atmosphere lessened a bit with the man being behind the door.

As she returned to the others standing loosely together in the middle of the room, Carina spoke up, of course. "What the hell, Blondie? What's this all about?"

"This is some weird shit. No lie." Zondra shook her head.

Even Amy had lost some of her bubbles. "Jeez, Sarah."

Before she could reply, there was a loud banging on the front door as it was thrown open violently. A group of about a dozen people started to enter the room led by a pretty, dark-eyed brunette, almost as tall as Sarah. An older gentleman, in a rumpled shirt and tie, lurked behind the group.

"What is going on here? Who are you people?" the brunette demanded.

"We were here first. You are invading our space." Sarah barked. "The proper question is, who are you people? What the hell do you mean by barging in here and bothering us?"

"My name is Jill Roberts, as if it's any of your business," Jill sniffed haughtily. "We are looking for Chuck Bartowski."

"Chunk? Barta-what? We have no idea what you're talking about." Sarah glared at the angular woman, who appeared to be expensively dressed. Zondra snorted.

"Bar-tow-ski. Chuck Bartowski. Tall. Curly hair. Athletic. Big backpack. Have you seen him?" Jill demanded.

"It should be obvious, even to you, that there is no one here who looks like that. We've not seen anyone since we started our practice."

"What's in here?" Jill tried to open the locked maintenance room door.

"Have no idea. We don't have a key for that door. Just the front door and the restrooms." Sarah lied.

"Wait. You said practice. What practice? Who are you people?"

"It's really none of your business, but in the interest of getting you out of here faster, we're…"

"Oh, they're those acapella girls. I recognize some of them from that show last year." A voice in the back of the invading crowd piped up. People in the crowd started to chuckle.

"Acapella?" Jill laughed. "No way Bartowski would be caught dead around these losers."

"Who are you calling losers, scarecrow?" Sarah growled, taking a step forward. "From where I'm standing running after some lame guy is a pretty loser thing to do." Carina put her hand on Sarah's shoulder and lightly pulled her back.

"If you knew anything about anything, you wouldn't be saying that."

"If you knew anything about anything, you'd be taking your boney ass and your merry band of jackasses and getting the hell out of the building. Before we throw you and your Saks clothes out on to 5th avenue." Sarah warned. All of Amy's bubbles popped. She took a step toward the smirking brunette.

"C'mon everyone, let's go. Bartowski's not here. We'll have to look somewhere else. Maybe head to his dorm or back to the field. And now I need to wash the acapella stink off me, too. Phew. Gross." Jill sneered.

"Get on your broom and go, before I call the campus cops. You've interrupted our scheduled practice time for too long." Sarah stood, glaring, as the group filed out of the building. Before the door shut, the rumpled man sidled up to Sarah and offered her a business card.

"Miss, here's my card. My name's Bill Krug and I'm a reporter for the Palo Alto Daily Post. Sports. Do me a favor? If you do come into contact with Bartowski, give me a call. There's a story there. I can smell it." Rumpled said.

"I'll think about it." Sarah replied. The only thing she could smell was Bill Krug's cologne and sweat. He had on too much of both.

"That's all I ask. Thanks." He turned and walked out, too. The door slowly closed. She pocketed the card. Sarah and the Songbirds were alone again. Almost.

Sarah waited a minute. She had no reason to trust this Bartowski guy, but she had less reason to trust that pushy witch Jill Roberts. Pulling out her keyring, she looked at her friends for their reactions. No one spoke.

Amy grinned. Carina shrugged. Zondra gave a slight nod. With that ringing endorsement, Sarah smirked and shook her head. She unlocked the maintenance door and opened it. "They're gone. You can come out now. We're due some answers."

A few moments ago

As the door closed and locked, Chuck took off his warm up jacket and moved his legs so he was sitting cross-legged. His head was really getting bad now. Even though it was dark in the room, Chuck followed his routine and closed his eyes.

He started to take deep breaths. In through his nose and out through his mouth. Slow and steady. The loud commotion outside the small room distracted him and made his headache flare back up.

Chuck could hear voices raised in anger outside the door. One sounded like the blond woman he had just met. The other sounded like that Jill person who was bugging him and following him around campus. Not wanting to have the headache return, Chuck blocked the voices out of his mind, as best he could.

He went back to his routine. Slow, steady breaths. In through his nose and out through his mouth. As his heart rate began to return to normal, Chuck focused and centered himself. He pictured doors closing in his mind, cutting off the pain and all the things related to it. Door after door. As each door shut, the pain lessened. All the while Chuck continued his slow and steady breathing. Focus. Close the doors. Soon, the pain was gone.

The noise outside the room was gone, too. A few, quiet moments later, Chuck heard the key turn in the lock and the door open. After the darkness of the closed room, the light was dazzling. Standing in the doorway, bathed in the dazzling light, was the blond woman. She looked like an angel. "They're gone. You can come out now. We're due some answers."

Chuck grabbed his jacket and stood up. Picking up his backpack, he walked into the shining light.

Sarah walked back to the middle of the room, surrounded by all of the girls. All the Songbirds. Chuck followed a few paces behind and stopped in front of her, carefully placing his backpack at his feet. Fittingly, the other girls were arrayed behind Sarah like a choir. She caught the faint scent of Ivory soap and cedar. The electric charge in the air was back.

Before starting in on the questions again, Sarah looked Chuck over from head to toe and back again. He had taken off his jacket. She could see the tee-shirt clearly now. It was black with the words 'Nerd Throws Baseballs' on the front. That Jill witch had said something about athletic and, with his jacket off, Sarah could tell his tee-shirt was tight across his chest and his arms were nicely developed. So, athlete then. And tall. Taller than she was. She guessed he would even be taller than her when she was in heels. Mmmmm. That'd be nice, for a change. She couldn't wear heels around most guys. She'd be too tall for them, she sighed. Sarah shook her head, slightly. Focus, Walker.

"Bedroom eeyyeess." mental mom was back.

"Hush, Mom." Sarah thought.

For his part, Chuck looked around the room. Back toward the main entrance, lecture hall seats stretched up from the floor level. They were made of wood. Old. In front of him were wooden risers pulled out resembling the ones in a high school gymnasium.

Eleven girls were arranged around and on the risers. The twelfth girl, the blond, was in front of him. Chuck watched her watching him. She was dressed casually in while capris, a pink spaghetti-strapped tank top with matching sneakers and headband. Tall. He gauged the distance between them and where the top of her head came up to on him. Chuck calculated she was around five feet nine inches, or so, tall. Nice to dance with, even if she were in heels. If he knew how to dance, that is.

And she was stunning. Definitely the most gorgeous person he had ever seen, much less been this physically close to. Her golden blond hair framed her face perfectly. And her eyes. Those amazing blue eyes. Sparkling with fierce intelligence as they regarded him. They missed nothing. He could stare at that face and look into those eyes for the rest of time and not grow bored. Standing in front of her, he noticed the electric charge in the air was back.

"So, I take it your name's Bartowski?" Sarah asked.

"Y—Yes. Bartowski. Charles Bartowski. Every—Everyone calls me 'Chuck'." He wanted to know her name, but didn't know how to ask her.

"Wow, I didn't know people still named their kids Chuck."

"My parents are sadists." Chuck shrugged and lifted his palms up.

Sarah chuckled at that. Some giggles around the room. "Why Chuck and not Charles or Charlie?"

"That old TV show, Charles In Charge, kind of ru- ruined Charles as a name you could actually use. Charlie Brown did the s- same for Charlie. Hard to be an … um … athlete with Charlie Brown's failures at baseball and football in people's minds."

"So, you picked Chuck? Really?"

"Well, Chuck is all that's … um … left. Endless 'What's up Chuck?' or 'Do you up chuck, Chuck?' jokes are easy to l—live with in c—comparison."

"I'd go with Curls." Carina offered. "Or Chuckles." Chuck blushed.

"Carina, now you've gone and embarrassed him." Aubrey chided. Carina grinned.

"So, Chuck," Sarah said, cracking the 'k'. "What's your story? That Jill person called you athletic. Are you athletic? An Athlete?"

"Yeeaah, I'm a new student and I'm PO on the Stanford baseball team. I'm here with m- my friend Mor- Morgan. He's one of the catchers on the team."

"Wait. Back up. What's a PO?" Sarah asked, perplexed.

"Sorry … sorry. I'm around baseball people so much, so I use the abbreviations and s- slang terms without thinking. S- Sorry. PO means 'pitcher only'. Some p- players p- play other p- positions as well as pitch. Anyone who only p- pitches gets called 'p- pitcher only' or PO for short." Chuck explained.

"Why do you only pitch and not play other positions?"

"I'm left-handed and there are fewer left-handed p- pitchers than right-handed pitchers. So, coaches like to get left-handed p- players, who can pitch, to concentrate on pitching, instead of playing other positions, too."

"So, you're a left-handed pitcher only playing on the Stanford baseball team, right?" It's like pulling teeth to get this guy to talk, Sarah thought. She noticed he wasn't wincing or grimacing like before.

"Right."

"So, if you're an athlete, where's your red backpack? Don't all Stanford athletes get a red backpack?"

"Yes, we do, but it's too small to carry all the stuff I need to carry around." Chuck unzipped the top of his big backpack and pulled out a smaller red pack that was folded in half. "Here's mine." More giggles around the room.

"Why, do you carry it around, if you don't use it, Chuck?"

"Because, you're not the first person to ask me to prove I'm an athlete here." Sarah didn't know why, but she felt a little ashamed for doubting him as other people had done.

"Ok, so you have the red backpack. Let's see your Stanford Id, so we know you didn't just steal some random athlete's backpack. You may be trying to impersonate a student just to pick up hot girls." She teased, grinning. Several of the girls laughed.

Chuck reddened and he ducked his head. "I c- couldn't d- do th— that!" He pulled out his wallet and gave her his id. She noticed the stuttering was back again.

"Looks real to me." Sarah said, handing it back to him. "So, you're an honest-to-God student at Stanford, huh?"

Chuck gave a small smile. "Yes, that's me!" he said proudly. More giggles.

Sarah had another thought. "What's the deal with that Jill Roberts person and all those other people? And that reporter, Bill Krug?"

"Not sure about Jill, for s- sure, but some of them are Annies and some of them are just p- people who like to follow crowds for some reason."

"Hold on, hold on. What's an 'Annie'? Is that one of those slang terms you were just talking about?"

"S—Sorry, yes. It's a slang term. It's sh- short for Baseball Annie. Did you ever see that movie, Bull Durham?" Sarah shook her head 'no'. "Too bad. Good movie. Anyway, the Susan Sarandon character was a Baseball Annie. They're someone who likes to date baseball players. Or, ma- maybe marry them." Explained Chuck.

"So, like a groupie?"

"What's a groupie?" Chuck asked.

Sarah looked at him strangely. "You know, groupie." Chuck shook his head. "Someone who chases rock stars. Usually girls." Sarah said.

"Oh, right. Groupie. Duh! Brain freeze there. Heh, heh. Yeah … Yeah, Baseball Annies are groupies, but for baseball, not rock stars."

"And that reporter? And why were the … uh… Annies … um … chasing you? You're in college. You don't make any money playing baseball, do you? Isn't that against the rules?"

"Yeah, college athletes have to be amateurs. No money. The reporter and the Annies were probably chasing me for the same reason."

"And what was that?"

"I got d- drafted this past June and chose, instead, to … ah … go to college. I turned down a … um … big signing b- bonus to come to Stanford. I told them why, but no one believes me."

'Drafted? Like into the Army?" Amy asked. Most of the rest of the girls rolled their eyes. Amy just giggled. Sarah stared at her.

"No … ah … No," Chuck replied. "Drafted to play pro baseball. Drafted in the … um … first ro— round."

"First round for a big bonus. And you turned it down?" Sarah was more than a bit surprised.

"How much?" Chloe asked, her eyes bright.

Chuck turned to look at her. "How mu—much what?"

"How much was the bonus?" Aubrey interrupted.

"Over s- seven … um … seven million dollars." Chuck answered, biting his lower lip.

There were gasps around the room. "Holy hell, Chuckles. And you turned that down to go to school?" Carina yelled. "Oh my God!"

"It's Stanford. And I've wanted to go here for the longest time." Chuck said calmly.

"Even so, wow. I don't know what to say." Sarah said. She narrowed her eyes and regarded him closely.

"I think you're pulling our legs, Bartowski. I don't believe you got offered over seven million dollars. That's a fortune." Zondra glared.

"I'm not lying. I swear. I don't lie. People in the first round can get offered that much or even more to sign. You can check online if you want. I just really wanted to go to college here at Stanford. Finish my education." Chuck shrugged.

"Wow, Chuck. Just wow." Amy breathed, staring wide-eyed at Chuck.

"So, that's why Jill and the Annies are chasing you. They think you'll get that much or more at the next draft?" Sarah asked. She noticed that the other girls had moved closer as she had been questioning Chuck. She also noticed that Chuck was stuttering less, the longer he talked to her.

"I guess so, but they'll be disappointed. I'm not going to go back in the draft until after I finish school. If then. Maybe never. Who knows? They'll have a long time to wait." Chuck declared. Sarah could sense the disappointment coming from around her.

"What about that reporter, Bill Krug? What's his interest in you?" Sarah continued.

"He interviewed me just before school started. Didn't believe me when I told him I wanted to go to college. He thinks there is some secret I'm hiding about baseball or something." Chuck shrugged again.

"Do you have a baseball secret. Chuck?"

"Nope. I have no baseball secrets, except from the opposing team." That got a laugh.

"I saw you grimacing when you first came in." Sarah said, changing the subject. "What's that all about?"

Chuck hesitated for a moment before answering. "Sometimes I get headaches. Having those … um … people … ah … c—chasing me must have helped t—to bring one on. It's gone n- now." Chuck said, reluctantly.

"Ok, Chuck. You've kept your end of the bargain. You've answered my questions. You're free to go. Nice to meet you." Sarah nodded her head emphatically once. She'd also noticed that he'd started to stutter a bit, again, when she asked about the grimace from before. The stuttering came and went. Strange. Why was that, she wondered?

Chuck picked up his backpack and turned to go, before hesitating. Slowly, he turned back to face Sarah. "W—Would it be ok, if … uh … if I hung out for a while?" Sarah frowned at him. "Just to be s—sure they're all gone fr— from outside?"

"You're not scared of a few girls, are you, Chuckles?" Carina teased.

"No … No. Just tired of being p- pestered. D—Don't want that headache to come b- back." Chuck said, shaking his head.

"I don't think so, Chuck. We need to concentrate on our practice and we don't need you listening in on it." Sarah answered his request, firmly.

"I promise I won't make a s— sound. I'll sit up high in those seats and use my noise-cancelling headphones. I wo—won't hear a thing. Honest." Chuck said with just a little pleading note in his voice.

Sarah looked around. Amy and Zondra shrugged. Carina smirked and nodded. The other girls nodded, after first watching the older girls' reaction. Sarah saw interest in more than a few girls' eyes.

"Bedroom eeyyeess." mental mom was back, again.

"Quiet, Mom." She shook her head.

"That's no way to speak to your mother!" mental mom seemed offended. Sarah closed her eyes, briefly, before opening them.

Pursing her lips and narrowing her eyes, she looked at Chuck for several beats. Finally, she decided and nodded her head once. "OK," she said "But no noise, clear?" Her eyes wide, Carina looked at Zondra and Amy. Their eyes were wide, too. Walker not being harsh to a guy? What gives? Was the Cold Queen of Coronado warming up? For real? Or was this a dream?

"Absolutely. Clear. No noise. I promise." Chuck breathed a sigh of relief.

Chuck picked his pack up and started up the aisle to the higher lecture seats. Zondra called after him. "Hey, Chuck! What're you majoring in anyway?"

Chuck stopped and turned to face the room again. "Oh, I'm majoring in … uh … computer science and engineering."

"Good to know." Zondra called.

More than one of the girls watched him climb up the stairs and find a seat near the top. He started unpacking his bag and setting up his stuff. It took a while.

Chuck took the second seat of the uppermost row. He set up a laptop in front of him and another on the desk to his left. Next, he removed a tablet from his pack and put it on the desk to his right. Finally, he pulled out a stack of scientific and professional journals and some notebooks. He placed those on the seats to his left and right.

Sarah waited for him to finish and don his headphones before turning back to the girls. She noticed the electricity in the air had decreased the higher Chuck had gotten on the stairs.

"Ok, we're wasted enough time. Let's get this practice started." Sarah ordered, shaking her head. "I've got to focus." She thought to herself. Mental mom was humming.

Chuck turned to the laptop on his left and logged on to the Stanford network. He navigated to the engineering department webpage and entered the student section, quickly finding the page for his assigned work. From that point he opened his circuit board drawing application.

He followed the same process with the laptop in front of him, but went to his computer science work area, instead. Chuck, then opened his own editor window to pull up the code he was working on.

Before he began to work, Chuck briefly looked down toward the floor of the room. The girls had divided into four groups. Each group had either the blonde or one of the girls who had been right behind her, when she questioned Chuck, leading the other girls in some sort of vocal exercise. With his headphones on, he couldn't be sure. When the blonde glanced his way, he reddened and hurriedly looked down. He wished he'd asked her name.

Chuck fiddled with his phone for a bit and Mozart began to fill his ears. He set his phone alarm to interrupt the music and signal him in one hour and forty-five minutes. Time to work. He put his fingers on the keyboard and his fingers started to dance, flying over the keys almost too fast to follow.

A few minutes later, Chuck stopped typing. After looking over his code one more time, he clicked the compile button, sat back, and smiled to himself. Taking a breath and letting it out, he turned to his circuit board diagram. Picking up his stylus, he began to add another section to the diagram and rerouting the connections he'd previously drawn to connect the new parts to the older elements.

Chuck glanced at the girls, again. Well, at a girl, really. The blonde was leading the girls slowly through some dance moves. Her friends moved between the other girls, helping anyone who faltered on the dance steps. The blonde looked totally focused and she moved with a fluid grace, even doing the steps slower to aid the others in learning them. Clearly, she was an accomplished dancer. When Carina nudged Zondra and smirked at him, he blushed and went back to his studies. His playlist had moved on to Chopin.

After about 30 minutes of drawing and redrawing the board, Chuck ran it through a digital integrity test to make sure there were no loose ends and everything was connected correctly to everything else. When the board passed that test, he opened his virtual machine application and dragged the circuit board design into its proper place. He ran an integrity check on the entire machine with the modified board. Getting a 'green light' he set the virtual machine to run his test workflow.

Chuck couldn't help stealing glances at the blonde. She was mesmerizing. Distracting. When she glanced his way, he hurriedly focused back on his work, wondering what her name was. Idiot. Shaking his head at his own foolishness, he checked that his program had compiled successfully. Satisfied, Chuck copied the program to his cloud storage. Picking up the tablet, he downloaded the program and linked it to his testing application. After starting the test cycle, he picked up a journal from the top of the stack on his right.

If he got the chance, before he left, he would ask her to tell him her name. Definitely. Maybe… No, definitely. What did he have to lose? Glancing quickly down at her and smiling to himself, he began to read, making notations on interesting papers and taking notes in one of his notebooks. He quickly powered through the stack of journals, filling page after page of his notebook with his precise blocked printing. Shubert filled his headphones all the while.

Sarah turned from looking up at Chuck and focused on the girls and the task at hand, forging them into a coherent singing group. She broke them into four groups for different vocal exercises, which she, Carina, Zondra, and Amy conducted. Every few minutes they rotated, so each group got to try each of the drills they'd be working on every practice. The girls didn't do too badly for a practice early in the quarter, but they did have a lot of work to do. She was a bit worried about Lilly. She was so quiet. Her voice sounded nice; she just needed to gain the confidence to project it more above a whisper.

After the vocal exercises, they moved on to doing the scales, correcting anyone who was singing flat. Sarah made a mental note to remind Dr. Beckman that they still needed a piano help with practice.

The next vocal drill they worked on was singing 'Row, Row, Row your boat' as a round. Sarah and her 3 friends showed the girls how to do it. She had them start in groups of 3, then 4, and on until the entire group of 12 were singing together. It was a little rough and some people lost their place, but it was a start. They would get better. Sarah would see to that.

Lastly, they had everyone try beatboxing to find out which girls had any skill at vocal percussion. Surprisingly, Lilly seemed to be one of the best. Interesting.

Sarah gave the girls a rest and bathroom break before starting the next activity. She glanced up to where Chuck was working, just as her friends gathered around her.

"He sure is focused on his work," Sarah commented.

"Yeah, when he isn't sneaking peeks at you, Walker." Zondra smirked.

"He was not. Every time I've looked up there, he's had his nose in one computer screen or the other." Sarah scoffed.

"I bet he's up there wishing he had his nose somewhere else, Blondie." Carina chuckled.

Sarah glared at her. "Can you not be suggestive and gross, at least one time, Carina? Chuck's up there working like crazy. Look at his hands flying over those keyboards."

"Just imagine those big hands flying all over your body like that, Blondie? Ooooo I bet he could make you hit high-C!" Carina softly sang "Aaaahhh aaaHHHHHH!" Zondra and Amy both laughed.

Sarah snorted. "I'm telling you, he's too nervous to be looking around. He's just doing his work."

"Oh, come on, Sarah. I've even seen him checking you out." Amy insisted.

Sarah glanced at Amy, who nodded her head. Damn, if even Amy was aware of it, maybe it was true, after all. How did she feel about that?

"Bedroom eeyyeess. Sexy, too." mental mom chuckled.

"Mother!" Sarah mentally gasped, thinking about Carina's comment earlier.

"Chuckles has definitely been checking you out, Blondie. Remember his big hands and big feet. You know what they say." Carina leered, while the other two girls snickered.

Sarah just stared at them all, blushing. Carina couldn't read her mind, could she? Surely not! God, I hope not, she thought.

Carina tried to say something else, but Sarah stopped her with a flat look. "Let's get the girls back to work on some dance steps." She frowned, shaking her head.

She asked Zondra to lead everyone in some stretching exercises to prepare them for working on the dance moves. After demonstrating the moves slowly, Sarah had the girls repeat them, while her friends checked out their form and corrected anyone who faltered. The Songbirds spent the remaining practice time going over the dance steps repeatedly, taking periodic breaks for water and to allow them to rest in an effort to avoid cramps or pulled muscles.

Sarah called a halt to the practice about 3:45. The girls were tired and winded from all the physical activity, more than what most of them were used to. That would change over time, Sarah was sure. She looked to where Chuck was sitting. His head was down, still working.

"That was a good practice everyone. It's still rough, but we're coming along. Does anyone have any questions? Anyone hurting? Tired is ok, hurting isn't. Anyone?"

No one spoke. A few people shook their heads. Sarah was pleased. A few days ago, there would have been more than one complaint. They were coming along.

"Ok, if there isn't anything else, we're done for today. Meet back here tomorrow. Same time. 2:00. Ok?" A few groans and 'ok' sprinkled around the group. They would work on team cohesion and spirit at another practice. "Ok, then, see everyone tomorrow."

Sarah was saying 'bye' and half-waving to people as they left, when she looked up to see Chuck coming down the aisle toward her from the upper seats. The electricity in the air increased.

"How'd it go, Chuck? Did you get a lot of work accomplished? Or did we distract you too much?" Sarah asked, teasing. The girls leaving all paused to watch the exchange.

"It went fine. Better than fine. It went great, actually. I was able to get through all of the work I had with me." Chuck answered.

"All the work in that huge Sherpa-pack, Curls?" Zondra asked. "Holy shit! What did you do, inhale it or something?"

"No … No, I guess I … um … just read fast. I'm a pretty fast typist, too. Helps with programming." Chuck shrugged with a small smile.

"So, we didn't distract you too much, then?" Sarah grinned. "With our singing and dancing?"

"No, not at all. I had my headphones on all the time. They drowned out any other noises."

Carina eyed him for a second. "So, Sarah, didn't distract you while you were trying to work, Chuckles?"

"N—No, w—why w—would s—she?" Chuck stammered. There it is again, Sarah thought.

"Why indeed, Chuckles? Why indeed? We saw you checking her out. More than once. Don't deny it." Carina grinned evilly.

Chuck blushed red, deeply embarrassed. "N—No, th—that's n—not it, at all. I s—saw mo—motion out of the c—corner of my eye. C—Couldn't h—help looking." Chuck looked distraught. "I— I'm v— very s—sorry if I d—did any—anything w—wrong. Truly." He looked on the verge of tears.

All the girls were stunned. Carina's mouth fell open. Did he not know she was teasing him? What was this guy's deal, anyway? He was an athlete, for God's sake. Was he for real?

Sarah didn't know what to do. This had spiraled out of control way too fast. She had to think about this, about Chuck, but first she had to salvage the situation.

"No, Chuck. You didn't do anything wrong. You've been the perfect gentleman. Carina didn't mean anything by it. She was just teasing you. Having fun at your expense. Weren't you, Carina?" Sarah looked meaningfully at Carina. Why do I care about this so much, she wondered?

"Sure, Chuckles. Sure. I was just teasing. Sorry, if it bothered you." Carina apologized. Even Sarah widened her eyes at that. Carina didn't usually apologize, even when prompted. Was Chuck affecting her, too?

"It's … It's ok … ok. Just c- caught m—me off guard. I don't want you to th—think badly of me." Chuck hung his head.

"We don't. We don't think badly of you, Chuck. We're just not used to cute guys hanging around and watching us practice, is all." Oh, no! What did I just say, Sarah thought? Why did I have to say 'cute'? And in front of Carina? And Zondra? And Amy? Everyone. Damn it.

"Bedroom eeyyeess. Cute with bedroom eeyyeess," mental mom sang.

Give it a rest, Mom. Sarah grumped.

"So rude to your mother," mental mom complained. Sarah mentally rolled her eyes.

Chuck's head came up and he stared at her. Amy, Carina, and Zondra stared, wide-eyed at Sarah, then Chuck, and then each other. Amy mouthed 'cute'? Carina nodded and winked. Zondra nodded back. Amy just grinned. The rest of the girls still in the room seemed stunned too. A few of the older girls started to grin. What was up with the Cold Queen, anyway?

"I … ah … I un—understand. It's … um … it's ok." Chuck gave a tentative smile.

"Not really. We just met you and shouldn't be giving you a hard time. But if you're ok, then that's good." Sarah breathed a sigh of relief. "So, once again, it was nice to meet you. Maybe we'll see you around campus." Sarah started to gather her things, dismissing him.

"Well, I … ah … I was going t—to ask you for a—another favor, if I could?"

Sarah stopped what she was doing and looked at him again. "What favor is that, Chuck?"

"I was wondering if I … um … if I could come b—back again and study here, while you are p—practicing? I got so much done. It's amazing!" Chuck exclaimed.

"Hang out with us while we practice? After us giving you a hard time teasing you? Why would you want to do that?"

"You said you didn't m- mean it and I … um … I believe you. It's ok, really. I got so much work done. I'd like to come b—back and do more."

"Do more?" Sarah said, teasing a little.

"Do more work. More work. I … ah … I meant do more work." Chuck stammered.

"I don't know, Chuck. We don't have people watching us when we practice. Wouldn't the library be a better place for you to do your work?" Sarah demurred.

"They don't give you as much space in the library. I can't spread out like I could here. People bug me in the library, too. I'll use my headphones again and won't hear a thing. I promise." Chuck was pleading a little now.

"Are you sure you're not asking to stay just to hide from that Jill person and that reporter?"

Chuck blushed. "Well, a little. Maybe, more than a little. They didn't think I would hang out here. With you. Hang out here with you." He fumbled. "Maybe, I'll get left alone if I hang out here."

Sarah pondered what Chuck had said for a minute. "Hang on a second." She said to Chuck, holding up her finger. She moved back to the middle of the room, turning to the other girls still there, she raised her voice. "Come over here and huddle up."

Everyone hurried to the middle of the room and surrounded Sarah as she crouched down like a quarterback. "So, what do you think? Should we allow him to hang around or kick him to the curb?"

The girls looked at each other over the top of Sarah's head and smiled at one another. This was unusual behavior for Sarah Walker. Carina, Zondra, and Amy nodded to one another. Their eyes showed that a plan was forming. Grinning, they looked at the others and everyone nodded.

"We're game, Blondie. If you are?" Carina whispered.

"Ok, then we'll let him stay. If he gets out of line or causes any trouble, he's out? Yeah?" Sarah whispered back. The hair on her arms and the back of her neck began to stand on end, again.

"Yeah," everyone replied together.

The huddle broke up. Sarah stood and walked back to Chuck. He noticed the hair on his neck and arms was standing on end.

"We've decided to allow you to stay, after all. You better behave yourself or you're out." Sarah said, sternly.

"Th—Thank you. I'll be good. I promise." Chuck said, earnestly. Sarah grinned. Several of the girls chuckled. Chuck stuck out his hand for Sarah to shake. "Pax?"

Sarah looked at his hand. "Pax?" she asked. "What's Pax?"

Chuck dropped his hand. "Pax. John Wayne. Donovan's Reef movie. 1963. When his character came to an agreement, he would say 'Pax' and shake hands."

Sarah laughed and shook her head. "You're an interesting guy, Chuck. Ok, then. Pax." Sarah stuck out her hand.

Chuck put his hand out, again, and took hold of Sarah's. They each felt something like an electric jolt. Like a circuit closing. Later, they would say they even heard a faint 'pop' or a 'snap' like electricity arcing. Everyone in the room felt the pressure release. Carina stared; her eyes wide. Zondra and Amy just blinked in surprise. There may have been a small gasp or two from around the room.

Chuck held on to Sarah's hand. It was warm and soft in his. He looked into her eyes in wonder. Her eyes softened as she gave him a slight smile. Chuck smiled back at her. His smile continued to grow until it crinkled the edges of his eyes and wrinkled his nose. His whole face, his whole body lit up. Sarah basked in that light and began to melt. She knew she had made the right decision. She would do anything to see that smile on his face again.

It fell to Carina to break the spell. Once more.

"Hello? If you two are done playing freeze tag, can we get going, Blondie? Chuckles?" Carina snarked.

Chuck slowly came back to himself. Sarah blinked and looked down at their joined hands, then back up at Chuck.

"Pax?" she said with a shy smile. His hand felt strong in hers, a bit callused. She guessed from baseball.

"Pax." He replied and shook her hand gently.

"My name's Sarah, by the way. Since you hadn't asked, yet. Sarah Walker."

"Sarah Walker." Chuck said, dreamily. "Nice to need you, Sarah Walker." He shook her hand again. Their hands slid apart slowly as if their fingers were reluctant to lose contact.

As their hands parted, Sarah remembered that there were other people in the room. She glanced around. "Since you're going to hang out with us, let me introduce you to the others. Anyone who left already, we'll take care of tomorrow."

Chuck shivered. He blinked and remembered the time. Pulling out his phone, he checked to make sure.

"Sorry, Sarah. I can't. I've got to run to practice. Don't want to be late or it's more work for me. Sorry. Gotta go."

"Practice? In the fall? But baseball is in the spring. What are you doing in the fall?" Sarah asked, disappointed that he was leaving so soon.

"Yeah, practice in the fall. We do a lot. A lot. If you only knew. Tell y'all later. Gotta go. Really. Sorry. Same time tomorrow? Here?" Chuck said as he shouldered his backpack and moved toward the door.

"Yes, here. Same time." She confirmed.

"See y'all then." As he opened the door.

"Wait!" Sarah called. "What dorm are you in? Maybe, we'll see you around?" Her friends grinned at each other. The Cold Queen was warming up. No question.

Halfway out the door, Chuck turned. "Roble Hall." He said.

"Us, too." Sarah smiled. "We'll see you around, for sure. Maybe in the dining hall. Look for us."

"Absolutely. Sure thing." Chuck called as the door closed and he started off running again.

"Bye!" Sarah waved to the closed door.

"Bedroom eeyyeess. Beautiful smile," mental mom sighed.

"Don't I know it, Mom." Sarah thought. She shook herself. What am I thinking? One more year. Have to focus.

"Ok, everyone show's over." Zondra said. "Let's get on out of here."

People started moving to the door, while Sarah gathered up her things once more. Moving toward the door, she made sure to shut off the lights in the bathrooms and lock them. She looked around the room one more time and shut off the lights, before going out the door and locking it.

Her friends and suitemates waited for her a little distance off. Carina watched Sarah shutting the door and locking it. She whispered to Amy and Zondra. "Now, we've got a mission. Operation Big Thaw." She grinned. Amy and Zondra grinned back and nodded, just as Sarah joined them.

"What are you three reprobates doing whispering?" She said, eyeing them.

"Oh nothing, really." Carina shrugged. "Just wondering what's the deal with old Chuckles."

"Yeah, me too. Me, too." Sarah mused. She didn't notice the grin her three friends shared.

A/N2: The title of this chapter refers to the song Bette Davis Eyes by Kim Carnes.

A/N3: The model for the interior of the fictional Helman Hall is the practice hall/room used by the Barden Bellas in Pitch Perfect.

A/N4: Stanford University dorms are all co-ed. Some dorms divide up by wings or floors, while others alternate rooms. Dorms do not have co-ed rooms.

A/N5: Thanks to WillieGarvin for beta-ing for me. You're the best. If you've gotten this far, drop me a PM or a review. Let me know what you think. Thanks for taking the time to read my scratchings.