A/N: College athletes have a crazy schedule. Can't speak to the details of other sports besides baseball. A baseball player's schedule is nuts all year long, not just during baseball season. More of that will come out as we go on.

Disclaimer: I'm still hung up about Chuckles the chuckling woodchuck Chuck chucker from chapter 3. If you see anyone around here in white coats carrying an oversized jacket with too many belts, just tell them you haven't seen me. Let them know that I don't own Chuck. I make no money from Chuck.

Chapter 5 – Private Eyes

October 1

By the time the Clock Tower finished striking 8:00pm, all eleven girls had arrived in the Main Quad. They congregated at the northwestern nature spot along its curb border. That way they would be able to spot Sarah, if she happened to come into the quad for some reason, and allow them to make their hasty exit via the northern archways leading away from both Green Library and Roble Hall. With Zondra keeping an eye out for Sarah, Carina gathered the rest of the girls in a tight circle around her.

"OK, as we said in our texts, we're here to talk about Chuck Bartowski without involving Walker. So, first things first. Does anybody not know, at this point, what went down at the end of practice this afternoon?" Carina asked. Only Beca and Alex raised their hands. "Right. Here's the fun and games you missed out on." Carina grinned and proceeded to review the events from earlier in the day. Both Beca and Alex giggled at Carina's 'colorful' retelling. They each had a hard time reconciling the Sarah Walker they knew up to that point with the Sarah Walker Carina was describing. When she finished, Aubrey spoke up.

"So, what do you want to do? It was pretty obvious that Chuck threw Sarah for a loop." Aubrey observed.

Carina tapped her chin, thinking for a moment. "I'm thinking we start out small. Follow him and figure out where he goes and what he does. He said he's majoring in computer science and engineering, so that means he'll mostly be on the west side of campus. With him living near us in Roble Hall, it's almost a straight shot north to the computer science building and the various engineering buildings."

"Shouldn't be too hard to get a handle on where he goes then." Chloe said.

"Exactly. Sure, he might have classes outside that general area, but most of them will be there. Since so many of us live either in Roble or in the Lagunita Court complex, it won't be strange for us to be around that area, in case he happens to spot any of us." Carina replied.

One of the freshmen, Alex McHugh, piped up. "My dad is the conditioning coach for the baseball team. Do you want me to ask him some questions? See what he will tell me about Chuck?"

Carina gave the suggestion some thought before answering. "I don't think that's a good idea just yet. How could you justify it? Too big a risk of your dad going to Chuckles to find out why his daughter is asking about him. Don't get me wrong. It's a good idea. Maybe just not something we want to start with."

"Makes sense." Alex agreed. "You do not want my dad getting suspicious of Chuck and crawling his case. That'll get back to Sarah for sure. Especially if Chuck were to come to our practice missing body parts." Several of the girls chuckled at the image she conjured up.

"If you don't mind me asking." Beca chirped. "Why do we care about Chuck Bartowski? All he's asking to do is sit in the practice hall and do schoolwork while we practice. What's the big deal?"

Amy jumped into the conversation. "What the big deal is, as Carina said, Sarah has never acted this way before. She's always spurned any boy who's shown even the slightest interest in her. She's always been nose to the grindstone. Completely focused on school and getting into PT school. Ice cold and driven."

Carina continued. "Yeah, her reacting to Chuck like she did isn't just an ice cube melting. It's equivalent to all of Antarctica melting."

"I get that, but I still don't see what the big deal is." Beca responded. "So, she likes the guy. So what?"

Still watching the quad for any sign of Sarah, Zondra joined the discussion. "The so what is Sarah has been hell-bent on storming her way through Stanford and getting into PT school. Ever since our freshman year. The reason why isn't important here. What is important is Curls Bartowski is the first thing that's come along and diverted Sarah's attention and focus at all, in four years. At. All. Even the slightest. In. Four. Years. We're her friends. We're worried about her, that's all."

"Not to mention, Chuckles was more than a bit weird with all his stuttering and stammering and headache stuff. We just want to find out more about what his deal is. Try and make sure that Sarah isn't in any danger. Hell, make sure that none of us is in any danger from a weirdo." Carina concluded.

"OK, so you want us to follow Chuck from the dorm to his classes? From class to class? Just to the buildings? Other places, too? What are you thinking? How do we do that? Just one of us? All of us? Different days? How are we going to do that?" Cynthia Rose, another of the freshmen, asked.

"Good questions." Carina said. No one spoke for a couple of minutes, while each girl tried to think of a way to accomplish their goal.

It was Amy who offered a solution. "We could do it like a song round."

"A song round?" Carina stared at her. "Amy, what are you talking about? How does a song round apply here?"

"A song round, like 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat'. Like we do in practice. We assign a girl to follow him from the dorm or the dining hall to see where he goes first thing in the morning. That girl messages the next girl with the location where Chuck is. The second girl arrives at that location before class is out and follows Chuck to see where he goes next. She messages the next girl. And so on and so on. Once we get through all eleven of us, the last girl messages the first girl and we start all over again for however many days we need to figure out his schedule. It should only take a few days to figure it out. And we spread out the work, so no one girl is doing more than any other."

"Sounds like a lot of trouble." Anna said. "Why don't we just ask him? If you're worried about Sarah finding out and telling us to stop, just ask him when she isn't around."

"We could do that." Zondra agreed. "But how do we know he'll tell us? He might just ask why we want to know and won't tell us anything. What then?"

"Exactly." Carina added. "We can't change the fact that he'll refuse to talk to us. Or that he talks to Sarah about it. She'll just tell us nothing's going on and to butt out. This shouldn't be too hard. As focused and hurried as Chuckles seems to be, he won't even know we're anywhere around him." Carina smiled. "Think of it like those huge games of 'Gotcha' or 'Spy vs. Spy' that Stanford is famous for playing. Students chasing and stalking each other around campus like a big game of Tag." Some of the other upper-class girls nodded and smiled, remembering taking part in such games during their time at school.

"We could even use that as a cover, in case Chuck does spot us. Just tell him we're playing a game of 'Gotcha'." Amy added.

"Sounds like a plan." Carina said. "I know it may not be the best, but it's simple and shouldn't be too difficult for us to pull off."

"OK, fine. So, we follow him and figure out where he goes. What then? What do we do with that information?" Lou asked.

"Not sure." Carina shrugged. "We'll figure that out once we have some more information on Chuckles. Now, let's draw straws, so to speak. Everyone, pull out the first lipstick you can reach, from your purse, open it, and extend it fully. The girl with the shortest lipstick will be the short straw, then the next shortest, and so on. If there's a tie, the younger girl is the short straw. OK? Good. Let's see those lipsticks."

October 2

Lilly Onakuramara had drawn the proverbial short straw. At the group meeting last night, she had been tasked with trying to find out where Chuck Bartowski went first after he finished breakfast. The others all had later times in the day to watch for Chuck, but she had been given the early morning time slot. She wasn't really a morning person, but she did have an early class, so having her watch for Chuck made sense, even if it was annoying.

Luckily, she didn't have long to wait. She'd barely finished her own breakfast before she saw Chuck gathering his breakfast trash. He hefted his huge backpack onto his shoulders and, after depositing his trash in a waste can, walked out of the building. Lilly quickly followed suit.

The fact that Chuck towered over most of the people moving between the various buildings made him fairly easy to follow. Just follow the bouncing curls, Lilly giggled to herself. Her being almost a foot shorter than him allowed Lilly to blend in with the crowds of pedestrians, helping to prevent her from catching his eye if he happened to look around. Not that she would mind if she did catch his eye, though.

Lilly's luck continued to hold as Chuck headed straight out of Lakeside, walking toward the North-South Axis. Before long he turned into the Varian Physics building. Giving a silent cheer, she pulled out her phone and sent a message to Lou Palone, the next girl on call: 'Chuck Varian on Via Pueblo'. Her task completed, she headed to her own destination. She had to admit playing spy was sort of fun. Especially being tasked with following a cutie like Chuck Bartowski. Not the worst way to walk across campus.

As it turned out, Amy's idea worked out. Following Chuck from place to place over the course of the day and trading off from one girl to the next wasn't too hard. Carina had been right about that. Chuck seemed oblivious, rushing from class to class, building to building. Carina had been right about that, too.

The only unexpected event happened when Chuck hadn't rushed off to class after grabbing some lunch, as they had assumed he would. Like he had told them he had done the previous day, when he first burst into their practice. Instead he had gone over to the baseball field. It was strange. Why had he gone there before coming to hang out with them, instead of after? As he had done the previous day?

Each girl messaged the three senior friends their individual reports of Chuck's activities. It would be up to Amy, Carina, and Zondra to put it all together; hoping all the while that Sarah didn't catch them in the act.

Amy scooted into Helman Hall, just ahead of Chuck. Aubrey had warned her that he was over at the baseball field and not, as they had expected, in a class. She thought that her hanging around the baseball field would be too obvious, so she decided to try and intercept him on his way to their practice. Assuming he came to practice. If he didn't, they'd have to change their plans to follow him.

She had gotten some food and eaten it at one of the concrete picnic tables bordering White Memorial Plaza, keeping an eye out for Chuck coming from the north in the direction of the baseball field. Amy had finished her meal and was half studying and half watching for Chuck, when she saw him approaching the plaza from Meyer Green. She had packed up her stuff and moved off toward the hall.

Upon entering the building, Amy noticed that all of the other girls had already gotten there, including Sarah. Catching Carina's eye, she nodded. When she moved farther into the room to put her backpack and purse down, Chuck came in through the door behind her.

Amy turned, as if responding to the noise of the door. "Oh hey, Chuck. I didn't see you there. How are you doing?"

"I'm fine … ah …" Chuck tapered off.

"Amy," she volunteered.

"Oh … hi … uh … Amy. Yeah, I'm fine. Th- Thanks for asking." Chuck felt his skin tingle. That strange electric feeling from the day before was back again.

"How was class?" Amy continued.

"You mean earlier today?"

"Didn't you just come from class? Or were you eating lunch or something?" Amy fished.

"Oh, no, I wasn't just in class. I had practice over at the baseball field."

Feeling the charge in the air, Sarah looked up and noticed Chuck talking to Amy. Before Amy could ask another question, she called across the room. "Hey, Chuck! You came back, after all. Nice to see you. How's the day treating you?"

"Hi, Sarah. I'm good. The day's treating me well. I'm … uh … well … good." Chuck dipped his head. Stop stammering, you idiot! Some of the watching girls giggled.

"Glad to hear it. We missed seeing you at dinner last night." Sarah volunteered. Damn it! Why can't I go two minutes around this guy without putting my foot in my mouth?

"My baby's all nervous around Chuck with the bedroom eeyyeess."

Wonderful. "Hi, mom." She thought, as she silently groaned. Here we go again.

"Oh. S—Sorry about that. I had dinner plans with my sister and her boyfriend. Not a good idea to stand her up."

"Does she have a temper, Chuckles?" Carina butted in.

"Are you familiar with the Tasmanian Devil from Bugs Bunny cartoons?" Chuck asked. A few giggles from around the room.

"Yeeeahh?" Carina said, confused.

"Well, that's how my sister, Ellie, acts when she gets mad. You do not want to be around when that happens." Chuck shuddered. Some of the girls laughed, outright, at his antics.

"Ellie?" Sarah questioned.

"Yeah, Ellie. Short for Eleanor. She's a first-year med student here at Stanford."

"That's cool. Always nice to have a doctor in the family."

"I guess. It'll be a while, yet, since she's just started."

Sarah didn't have a quick comeback for Chuck's last statement and the conversation tapered off into an awkward silence. In the quiet, she noticed the electricity in the air, again.

"I'll … ah … get out of y'all's way and let you get on with your practice." Chuck said, sheepishly; hefting his backpack and moving toward the steps up to his seat from the previous afternoon.

"Why'd you say 'y'all'? I noticed you said that yesterday, too." Sarah asked, hurriedly.

Chuck stopped walking and turned to her, once more. He looked down for a second, a small, private smile on his lips. Looking up, again, he said. "My mom is from Georgia, just outside Atlanta. She taught me, very early on, that you don't say 'you guys' to 'young ladies.' You either say 'ladies' or 'y'all'. That's how she talks all the time, so it stuck. I know it sounds odd here in California, but it's how she taught me to talk." Chuck shrugged, grinning.

"You're a regular Rhett Butler, ain'tcha Chuckles?" Carina drawled. Chuck reddened.

"Is your dad from Georgia, too, Chuck?" Sarah asked, taking the conversation back from Carina.

"No … um … no. He's from Pennsylvania, originally." Chuck answered.

"OK, wow. So how did they meet, if you don't mind my asking?"

"No, I don't mind, at all. They met here at Stanford, actually. Dad was working on his computer science degree and mom was double majoring in biology and psychology."

Sarah's eyes widened, stunned. Could it be? What were the odds? "Is your mom a Physical Therapist?" she asked.

"No, she's not a physical therapist; she went to medical school to pursue an MD/PhD. She's a psychiatrist and a psychologist. While she was getting her two degrees, my dad got his PhD in computer science."

"What do they do now?"

"Mom's got a practice in Burbank. She's close enough to a number of the studios that she gets a steady stream of 'Hollywood' people." Chuck made a funny face and bobbed his head back and forth, eliciting laughs from the surrounding girls, including Sarah. He finished with his full nose-wrinkling smile. Sobering, he continued, "She also conducts research through UCLA medical school. A bit of a drive from where we live, but she's not over there on a regular basis." Sarah noticed a slight grimace on Chuck's face when he mentioned his mother's research, but it was quickly gone. Another thing to wonder about.

"What about your dad?"

"He mostly does research at CalTech, but he also consults with some tech companies in the area."

Carina made sure to catch Zondra and Amy's attention, verifying that they were getting all of this information. They both gave small nods. Things for the three of them to research later.

Zondra jumped in. "So, Curls, your mom is an MD/PhD, your dad is a PhD, and your sister is studying to be an MD. Are you planning on getting a PhD, too?" All the girls seemed to lean in to listen for his answer.

Chuck hesitated a beat or two. "Yeah … well … maybe. I'm … ah … well … hopefully, yeah." And there was that stammering again. Chuck blushed. All of the girls noticed both, the blushing and the stammering.

He tried to move out of the spotlight, once more. "I'll just get up there…"

"Wait!" Sarah exclaimed. Chuck stopped, again. "I promised you yesterday to introduce all of us to you. Will you let me do that now?"

"S—Sure. That'd be good. Thank you."

"OK," Sarah said, motioning to the girls around her. "Everybody, please go one at a time and tell Chuck your name and class. We'll start with the freshmen."

A very petite brunette raised her hand. "Beca Mitchell. Freshman."

"Alex McHugh. Freshman." A slightly taller brunette says. Carina noticed that she didn't mention her father and nodded her approval. Best keep that fact to themselves for now.

"Lilly Onakuramara. Freshman." All of the girls are shocked. It's the loudest any of them has heard Lilly speak since they've known her.

"Cynthia Rose Adams. Freshman. Sup?" She lifted her fist waiting for a bump. Chuck grinned at the dark-skinned girl and bumped fists with her. He finished off by wiggling his fingers and making an explosion noise. Cynthia Rose smirked and shook her head.

Two short women stepped forward together and sang, "We're the tiny sophomores. Anna Wu and Lou Palone." Both grinned and shook hands with Chuck as he smiled at their antics.

A blonde girl pulled herself up to her full height and said. "Aubrey Posen. Junior."

Her red-haired friend smiled up at Chuck. "Chloe Beale. Junior."

Chuck inclined his head. "Pleased to meet you both."

"Finally, us. The seniors." Sarah piped up.

"Amy Monroe. We met earlier" she bubbled, bouncing her blonde head. Chuck reddened a bit.

"Zondra Rizzo." The serious, self-possessed brunette nodded at him. Chuck nodded back.

The tall, auburn-haired woman licked her lips and said breathily. "Carina Miller. Nice to meet you Chuckles." Chuck tilted his head and gave her a quizzical look.

Sarah shook her head and closed her eyes briefly. Good grief, Red. Really?

"They're the CATS. Along with Sarah." Chloe chirped.

"The CATS?" Chuck was puzzled.

"Yeah, CATS. Crazy About Tequila Shots." Chloe grinned. She noticed Chuck mouthing the words to himself. "Those seniors like to party."

"Oh. OK. Sure. Makes sense. They're seniors." Chuck said slowly, nodding his head.

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Down, Chloe." She turned to Chuck. "And you know me. Sarah Walker." Without thinking, she held her hand out to shake and, without thinking, Chuck reached out and shook the offered hand. Their eyes widened as they felt the electric jolt, again. Sarah recovered more quickly this time around and released Chuck's hand before anyone could start to comment. Chuck seemed slightly dazed. He mentally shook himself.

"He—Hello. Chuck Bartowski." He said, sheepishly, to the group, giving them a crooked smile and a small wave. "It's nice to meet all of you. Thank you for allowing me to do my work here while you practice."

"Speaking of practice," Sarah joined in, "we need to get going."

"Of course. Of course. I'll just get up to my seat." Chuck picked up his backpack, again, and started to climb the steps. After a couple of steps, he stopped and turned around.

"Sorry to interrupt, again, but, Sarah, I didn't ask you before. What is this group called?"

"We're the Songbirds. Thanks for asking." Sarah looked up at Chuck and gave him a huge smile.

"Well, Songbirds, you've got work to do and so do I." With that Chuck moved up to his seat and repeated his unpacking process from the previous afternoon.

Sarah watched Chuck unpack his stuff for a minute. Less stuttering and stammering today. Didn't look like he had a headache, either. Interesting. What was that face he pulled when he mentioned his mom? Curious.

"No big show today." She said, quietly, to her suitemates.

"He almost seems normal. Almost." Carina smirked.

"Did you all hear him tell me that he just came from practice and not class like yesterday?" Amy stage whispered.

"No, I didn't hear him saying that. That's a pretty big change in practice time, isn't it?" Sarah asked, looking at her friends.

Zondra squinted and scratched her chin. "Yeah, that doesn't make sense. Teams don't usually have practice times all over the place, do they? They sure don't do that with high school teams. I know that for a fact. Can't imagine that college teams are any different."

Sarah was busy pulling her hair back into a ponytail. When she finished, she said. "Let's see what he says after we finish practice and go from there." Her friends smiled and nodded their agreement. She had no idea that she was helping them in their plan to find out about Chuck Bartowski. Clapping her hands, she got the girls attention. "OK, everyone. Let's get started."

Chuck spent his time doing largely what he had done the previous day. He split his time between designing, coding, and testing. While the tests ran, he read through a new stack of journals and research papers, taking notes as he went along. His study music drowned out almost all the sounds of the Songbirds practicing, but Chuck still found his eyes following Sarah, from time to time, her magnetic pull overriding his best efforts to keep focused on his work. Still, he was able to power through the contents of his backpack once more. He had to admit, to himself, that he got much more work done here than in the library. Chuck wondered why that was.

For her part, Sarah thought the girls were showing improvement when they practiced their dance steps. They were putting more effort into their vocal exercises, too. She'd have them working on some song arrangements in a few days. Things were looking up. She was observant enough to notice more than one girl sneaking looks up at Chuck. It seemed his presence was motivating them to work harder. Maybe trying to impress him. Maybe not. Either way, they were doing better. Sarah told herself that the twinge of anger she felt, when she saw them looking at him, was due to their losing focus for a minute and not because she was jealous. Of course, she wasn't jealous. What reason did she have for being jealous?

Chuck heard the alarm tone in his headphones sooner than he expected. The time had certainly flown by. As he shut down his laptops and tablet and began to repack his backpack, he marveled at how much work he was able to accomplish. He noticed the girls down on the floor below him gathering their things. They seemed to be pleased, as well. It must have been a good practice for them, too.

Sarah saw Chuck coming down the stairs from his chosen study perch. He was wearing a tee-shirt with Spiderman on the front along with the words, 'With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility'. So, Chuck was into computers and technology and liked comic characters enough to wear them on his shirt. Sounds like a classic nerd. All except the part where he was really good at baseball. Good enough to get offered a ton of money to play in the pros. But he turned it down so he could go to school. Definitely a nerd. Was that why he stuttered and stammered around them? Was it nothing more than the stereotypical shy nerd feeling awkward around girls? If that was true, why didn't he stutter or stammer much at all today? She'd have to figure that out, somehow.

"So, Chuck. Where are you off to now?" Sarah asked. She noticed that electric hum in the air increased as Chuck came closer.

"I've got to get over to the field for practice. More running, like yesterday." Chuck replied.

"Wait. Amy told us that you told her that you had just come from a practice before coming in here to study. Are you saying that you have two practices a day for baseball, in the fall?" Sarah was incredulous.

"No, we don't have two practices a day."

"But you are having two today? I don't get it."

"S—Sorry, what I should have said is that we don't have two practices a day. We have three practices a day."

"Three! Are you kidding me? For baseball? In the fall? That's hard to believe." Sarah was dubious.

"It's true. I swear. I promise to explain it all to you later, but I gotta go now. Really don't want to be late. I was a minute late yesterday and had to run extra punishment poles. Don't want to have to do that again today."

"What are 'punishment poles'?"

"I'll explain that, too. Promise." Chuck started moving toward the door.

"Explain it over dinner. We're going to be at Lakeside at 6:00 tonight. Meet us there?"

"6:00 at Lakeside. Sure. I'll be there. Gotta go. 'Bye, y'all." Chuck shouldered his backpack and rushed out the door. They could see him begin to run before the door closed, shutting off their view. The scent of Ivory soap and cedar lingered for a few moments.

Sarah turned to her friends who had watched the entire exchange with the same small smile on their faces. They realized that she had no idea of the image she was presenting them. The image of a girl manufacturing ways to be around a boy. She didn't notice the looks they gave each other. Nor the looks on a number of the other girls faces, either.

"6:00 dinner at Lakeside with Chuck sound OK to you guys? Maybe we can find out some more things about what makes him tick."

"Oh, we're right there with ya, Blondie. Wouldn't miss this for the world." Carina laughed.

"OK, Red. What's going on in that twisted little brain of yours?" Sarah demanded.

"Oh, nothing. I'm only interested in the scientific aspects of having dinner with Chuckles."

"Scientific aspects? What're you talking about?" Sarah knew she wasn't going to like Carina's answer.

"Oh, you know. Science. Remember I'm an anthropology major. Getting the opportunity to study the elusive Sarah Walker in her natural habitat. Maybe, even get a chance to observe the Blondie mating rituals in the wild. Too great a chance to pass up." Carina wore an evil grin.

Sarah gave Carina a flat look and took a step toward her. Amy and Zondra gently took hold of each of her arms to stop her moving further. They were trying to hold in their snickers and mostly failing. The other girls around the room did a better job. None of them wanted to be in Sarah's sights if she was mad.

Sarah shook her friends off, but made no effort to reach Carina. Instead, she merely glowered at her. "Carina, one of these days Amy and Zondra aren't going to be able to stop me from kicking your ass."

"Oh, Sarah, honey. You won't kick my ass."

"I won't?"

"No, you won't. If you did, whose shoulder would you cry on and who would keep you laughing with their witty anecdotes?"

"Hmmm? Let's see." Sarah pretended to think. "Oh, I know. Just about anyone."

"No one like a bitch, Sarah." Carina teased.

Sarah just snorted and went to collect her stuff. With the show over, girls started to file out of the building.

After completing the lock up ritual, Sarah joined her friends.

"Seriously, 6:00 is OK, isn't it?"

"It's fine, Sarah. Don't worry about it. Ignore Carina. She's just yanking your chain." Zondra assured her.

"Six is OK, Sarah. No problem." Amy bubbled. "Having dinner with Chuck will be fun."

"Zondra's right, Blondie. I'm just busting on ya. We'll be there with bells on. We've got your back." Carina said, seriously.

"Thanks guys. I'm going to go for a run like yesterday. Get cleaned up and then we can meet Chuck for dinner."

Sarah didn't notice the looks her three friends gave each other as they walked back in the direction of their dorm.

Chuck and Morgan made their way through the Lakeside serving area. While they wouldn't be on the training table until after the new year, the athletic department nutritionists had still provided guidance on what foods and what quantities they should be consuming to support the multiple daily workouts they were undertaking. To make a long story short, they both carried multiple plates fairly piled with food. As soon as they began to scan for places to sit, Chuck saw a number of hands waving in the distance and high-pitched voices calling his name.

"Chuucck! Chuucck! CHUCK!"

Chuck lifted his chin to acknowledge that he had seen and heard them calling, but they didn't stop. Smiling and shaking his head, he led Morgan over toward the waving hands. Before they reached the table, Chuck leaned over a bit and whispered, "Remember the rules, Morgan. Let me talk about me. I'm trying to make friends."

"Sure, Chuck, I got it. No worries." Morgan replied quietly, his eyes widening as he took in the longer table full of girls, smiling and waving at them. Pretty girls. He gulped.

There were two empty seats at the Songbirds' table. One next to Sarah and one on the opposite side of the table between Carina and Alex. All of the other girls were arrayed around the two long tables they'd moved together to accommodate their entire group. The whole group was there. Twelve girls in all. Morgan was stunned. How did Chuck luck into this? Even though Chuck had explained it to him back in their room, Morgan hadn't really believed it. He should have known. After all, Chuck never lied to him.

"Hi, y'all. Everybody doing OK?" Chuck greeted the two tables. He heard a variety of happy responses. People were in a good mood. "Let me introduce my friend and roommate, Morgan Grimes. We grew up together and he's on the baseball team with me."

"I didn't know people still named their kids Morgan," Carina teased.

"His parents were circus freaks who found him in a dumpster with his name pinned to his blanket." Chuck grinned.

"But they took me and raised me as their own." Morgan finished the practiced routine with his patented 'sad puppy dog eyes' and sighed. The girls laughed at their act.

As they put their plates on the table and slid into their seats, Chuck leaned over and whispered to Sarah, "I hope it's OK that I brought him along."

"That's fine. Not a problem, at all. He's always welcome." Sarah whispered back. Looking across the table, they saw Morgan introducing himself to Carina and Alex, in turn.

Seeing the multiple plates in front of the two teammates, Amy giggled. "You boys look like you've got big appetites. What'd you do that made you so hungry?"

"Didn't you say something about working your poles, Chuckles?" Carina asked. "I bet that would work up an appetite."

Morgan almost choked on his first bite of food, coughing to cover his surprise. Chuck just wore a puzzled expression.

"Yes, Carina. Doing our workouts does work up an appetite. Is there something you find strange about that?" he asked, seriously.

Carina stared at him, wide-eyed and speechless. Amy laughed. Zondra just smirked and shook her head.

"Oh my God, Chuck! You're the first person to call Carina's bluff." Sarah laughed.

"What bluff? I don't get it." Chuck said seriously.

Morgan smiled at his friend. They had no idea about Chuck. This was going to be interesting.

"You're a piece of work, Chuckles. I'll give you that." Carina said, quietly.

After allowing them to eat for a few minutes, Sarah turned to Chuck. "You promised to tell us about your practices and what 'punishment poles' were."

Chuck finished chewing and swallowed before answering. "Right. Sure. No problem. Uh … Punishment poles are when the coach tells us to run extra poles as punishment for some infraction, or mistake, we made during practice. And, since Carina seems interested in poles for some reason …" Sarah's eyes widened and then she started to laugh. The other girls joined in, even Carina. "Poles are running back and forth along the outfield fence from one foul pole to the opposite foul pole. We run poles as part of our normal workouts, but the coaches can assign extra ones for punishment, too."

"So, what's the deal with your practices? Do you really have three of them a day?" Sarah asked. It was clear from her tone of voice that she didn't believe that could be true.

"Yes, absolutely. We have three practices a day. In the morning, before breakfast or any class, we have weight training. That's either at 5:30am or 6:30am. The coach offers those two time slots and players can attend either one depending on the other things they need to do."

"What kind of weight training do you do?" Zondra asked.

"Well, it depends. Each player has an individual workout designed for them, which depends on what position or positions they play. Morgan, being a catcher and a hitter, has a different workout than I do, as a pitcher." Chuck took a couple of bites of food.

"Don't you hit, too?" Zondra asked.

"I can hit. I have hit before during travel baseball, but Stanford likes to use the DH, the designated hitter, so I won't normally bat."

"My man over there is a pretty good hitter, too." Morgan added in.

"I wanted to ask you about what you said about 'pitcher only' yesterday, but I want to hear about the practices first." Sarah said. Chuck ate for a bit, before responding.

"Right." Chuck continued. "So, we have weight training early in the morning. In the middle of the day, there is small group work. That's either two or three people working together with a coach on skills related to their particular position on the team. Infielders versus outfielders versus pitchers and catchers."

"What does that mean?"

"What that means is a coach can work with two or three infielders on skills they need in order to be effective on the field. Like a shortstop and second baseman working to turn a double play. Or a catcher working with a shortstop and second baseman to practice catcher throwing down to second to pick off runners. Other infielders have similar drills. The same goes for the outfielders and the pitchers and catchers."

"I didn't understand a thing you just said, but it sounds like what you're saying is there are specialized drills for the specialized skills needed at each position. Like musicians who play different instruments practicing their parts of a composition. Is that right?"

"That's right. You've got it."

"Since you're a pitcher, what do you do in those practices?"

"Pitchers work on pitching mostly. Some fielding or pick off moves, but mostly pitching. We can do long toss, flat ground work, and mound work." Chuck took a few more bites.

"What are all of those things you just mentioned?" Carina asked.

"Before you go into that detail, tell me how long that practice lasts and then about the practice you run to after hanging out with us." Sarah said.

"All three of our practices last about an hour. Sometimes a little more and sometimes a little less. The afternoon practice I go to after being with y'all is our conditioning practice. What that means, so far, is running. Either running poles, like I've said before, or stadium steps or sprints."

"So, let me get this straight. You get up at the crack of dawn for weight training. Either shower at the gym or back at the dorm, then eat breakfast. Go to class. Then the middle of the day workout. Lunch in there somewhere. Then either classes or studying, followed by the afternoon conditioning workout. After that, you can have dinner and whatever during the evening. Do I have it correct?"

"Yes, you've hit it right on the nose. Exactly."

"Holy shit, Chuck. That's crazy. That's a crazy schedule." Sarah looked incredulous. Both Chuck and Morgan laughed. Most of the girls were shaking their heads in disbelief.

"Tell me about it. Later in the fall it's going to get crazier. In November, we'll start playing practice inter-squad games a couple of days a week. They'll replace the afternoon workout on those days."

"If that's what you do in the fall, what happens next spring?"

"Next spring, we really get going. Well, actually, it'll start in January when we get back after the holidays. We'll start having practice all afternoon from about 1 or 2 until about 5 or 6. When games start, we'll have those five days a week with only Monday and Thursday being practice days. It'll be seven days a week."

"What? Seven days a week? What about class?"

"Classes in the morning, with some very rare exceptions."

"What kind of exceptions, Curls?" Zondra asked.

"The only exception I know of is if there is a class you have to take and is only offered in the afternoon. Even that is pretty rare. Other than that, I don't know of any exceptions, although there could be others."

"What if the class would interfere with the game schedule?" Sarah asked.

"I'm not sure. Maybe either work with the professor to schedule around the games or maybe just take it at another time in another quarter. I haven't had to deal with any issues or exceptions, yet." Chuck shrugged.

"Couldn't that delay somebody from finishing school and graduating?"

Before he answered Sarah's question, Chuck glanced over at Morgan and noticed that his friend was dividing his attention between his discussion with Sarah and the petite brunette to his right, Alex McHugh. Evidently Morgan had said something witty, since Alex was chuckling while her hand rested on his arm. Laughing with him, not at him. Good for you, buddy, Chuck thought.

Turning his attention back to Sarah, he said, "Yes, it can delay people graduating. So, if a player doesn't go in the pro draft, they'll have to stay in school for however long it takes to finish their degree after their baseball eligibility is over."

Sarah's next question was usurped by a loud, demanding voice coming from behind Chuck. "Chuck Bartowski! Why have you been avoiding me? Do you always treat girls this badly? Why are you wasting your time hanging around these losers?" Chuck cringed at the voice, the tone, and the words that he knew everyone in the general vicinity could easily hear. He knew who was behind him.

Turning in his seat, Chuck's fears were confirmed when he saw Jill Roberts and a small group of people standing a few feet behind him. Facing the table once more, he closed his eyes and sighed. While his eyes were still closed, he felt a warm electric charge on his arm. Opening his eyes and blowing out a breath, he looked down to see Sarah's hand resting lightly on his forearm. Even after she released his arm, Chuck felt warmth spreading through his body from the spot where she had touched him. When he looked at her, she gave him a smile and a small nod that seemed to say "You've got this." The girls around the table fell silent. They, along with the people in the surrounding area, watched the scene unfold.

Chuck slowly pushed his chair back and stood. Coming to his full height, he turned to face Jill. He took another deep breath and spoke. "Jill, p- please, you need to s- stop chasing me. I'm s- sorry, but I'm not interested." Sarah heard him stuttering.

"How can you not be interested in me? Guys are always interested in me." Jill was incredulous.

"I'm s—sorry. I'm just not interested."

"But you are interested in these losers, are you?" Now Jill was indignant.

"They are not losers. You have no right to say that. Yes, I am interested in them. They're my friends."

"How can they be your friends and not me?" Petulant.

"They're my friends because they're taking the time to get to know me and they're letting me get to know them. All you see when you look at me is a walking dollar sign. I'm sorry, but I need more than that." Chuck retorted. Sarah noticed he was no longer stuttering. She had an idea why, too.

Jill stood there stunned. No one had ever spoken to her like that before. She had always been able to entice any boy she had set her sights on before. Well, before Chuck Bartowski, that is.

Chuck continued. "Now, Jill, if you will please excuse me. I'm going to sit down with my friends and finish my dinner." With that, he turned his back and resumed his seat. He mouthed 'Is she gone?' to Morgan. There was a smattering of applause and small cheers coming from the people at the surrounding tables. And from some of the Songbirds, as well.

Morgan slowly nodded his head, smiling.

"Friends?" Sarah raised an eyebrow at him.

"Friends, Chuckles? Pretty bold, don't you think?" Carina teased.

Chuck's cheeks reddened as he ducked his head. "Yeeah, sorry for saying that. It was pretty presumptuous of me, wasn't it? I … uh … didn't mean anything by it. Thanks for not calling me out while Jill was around."

"Don't worry about it. We're just teasing." Sarah confirmed.

"Thanks. I don't always catch when people are kidding around."

"Forget it. Water under the bridge." Sarah said. "So, you want to be friends with us?"

"S—Sure. I'd like that. I'd like that, a lot."

"Me, too." Sarah smiled. Damn it! There I go again. This time she was sure her friends saw and heard everything. She groaned inwardly. "Hush mom, don't say a word," she thought.

Now with Jill out of the way, Chuck was free to get back to his food. The conversations around the table moved on to other topics. He enjoyed the company and had a really good time hanging out for the first time in like forever. After people finished eating, they still hung around chatting. Chuck saw that Morgan was engrossed in conversation with Alex. They looked like they had hit it off immediately. He felt bad that he had to remind Morgan about the time. They gathered up their trash and moved to throw it out.

"You better get going, Morg. Or you're going to be late for the film." Chuck admonished.

"You're right, buddy. I better go and get my stuff from the room before I head over for the screening." Morgan replied. He turned and spoke quietly to Alex. She pulled out a pen and a piece of paper, wrote something on it and gave it to Morgan. He looked at what was on the paper and beamed. Waving goodbye he walked out of the dining hall, while Alex returned to some of her friends.

"What was that all about?" Sarah asked.

"I'm pretty sure Alex gave Morgan her contact information." Chuck smiled.

"Where is Short Stuff running off to?" Carina wondered.

"Oh, Morgan is in a film history class this quarter. He thought it was going to be a piece of cake. Turns out they have to watch films three or four nights a week. The next day there's a short quiz on the film in class, followed by a discussion of the film and its importance. Each week they have to write a paper talking about all the films they've seen that week."

Sarah laughed. "That's a lot of work."

Chuck agreed. "Yeah, it is. Way more work than he bargained for. He'll do fine, though. Morgan knows more about movies than anyone I know. Me included."

The CATS and Chuck walked out of the hall. Sarah turned to Chuck. "Speaking of work, do you know anything about something called Tower of Hanoi, by any chance?" Her fellow CATS shared a look.

"A Tower of Hanoi? Sure, I know about them. Are you interested in the mathematical or programming aspects of it?" Chuck asked.

"Maybe? I'm not sure. I do know I need to look at how it's used in psychological testing and research."

Chuck hesitated before speaking. "So, you may need to look at the Tower of London variation to the Tower of Hanoi then."

"Could be. I don't know. What is the Tower of London?"

Chuck seemed to shiver slightly. "Y'all come up to my room. I've got a Tower of Hanoi puzzle on my desk. I can show you the mathematical and programming stuff on my computer."

"That'd be great. Thanks!" Sarah enthused.

"Maybe, even some stuff about the testing and research." Chuck didn't look happy mentioning the testing.

The girls were still wondering about Chuck's reaction when they reached his room. The door stood wide open. Before the group could enter, Morgan rushed out with his backpack in hand.

Dashing off down the hall, Morgan called, "I won't be late. I'm coming straight back here once the film is over. 'Bye again."

Chuckling Chuck ushered the girls into the suite. "Welcome to Casa Bartowski," he smiled. Sarah caught the scent of Morgan's aftershave mingled with the scent of Ivory soap, cedar, and something else that just said 'Chuck' to her. She didn't realize she was smiling.

"Why not 'Casa Grimes'." Amy asked.

"I'm bigger." Chuck shrugged. The girls all laughed.

"You're a regular 'king of the jungle' aren't you, Chuckles?" Carina snarked.

"If you say so, Carina."

Carina pouted. She wanted to get a rise out of Chuck and kept failing.

Chuck walked over to his desk and booted up his laptop. While it was starting up, he picked up a wooden object and brought it over to Sarah. The girls crowded around to get a look at it. It consisted of a wooden base with three wooden rods embedded in it. On one of the rods were a series of turned and polished disks stacked to form a conical shape.

"What do you do with it?" Zondra asked.

"It's a logic puzzle." Chuck said. He proceeded to show them how it worked. He put it back on his desk and gave them each a chance to try the puzzle. Once each of them had messed around with the puzzle, he spoke up. "Let me show you the mathematics behind the puzzle and one of the programming solutions that uses recursive programming. There are other solutions that use different methods."

As he moved over to his desk chair, Sarah reminded him. "Do you have information on the psychological testing?"

"Yeah, I can show you that, too." Chuck said, reluctantly. He sat down in his seat and turned on his lamp.

Carina noticed an ornament dangling from the lamp's light switch. "What's that, Chuckles?" Carina asked, pointing.

"Oh, that? That's 'Bruce'." Chuck replied.

"Bruce? Why 'Bruce"? Where'd you get it?" Sarah asked.

"I got it at the Georgia Aquarium a few years back when we were on a trip visiting my mom's parents in Atlanta. I call it 'Bruce' after the mechanical shark in the Jaws movie."

"It's ugly. What is it?" Amy frowned.

Chuck smiled to himself. "It's a piranha."

A/N2: The title of this chapter refers to the song Private Eyes by Hall and Oates. It seemed appropriate.

A/N3: If you're curious about 'Gotcha', you can google it. Remember the games Chuck and Bryce played while at Stanford in canon? There's even a movie by that name that starred Anthony Edwards from the 1980s. That's what the Songbirds are referring to in this chapter.

A/N4: Huge thank you to WillieGarvin for his continued support and beta efforts. Any mistakes you find here are all my fault.

A/N5: Thanks for reading. Drop me a PM or a review. Let me know what you think.