I am posting this at the same time as Chapter 2 so make sure you don't miss that one. I think my writing may be hard enough to follow let alone if you had missed a chapter. :)
Chapter 3
The next morning Chuck woke still lying in the same position he had collapsed in the night before. He got up and finally took of his work shirt he had worn since yesterday morning. He was down to his boxers making his way to the shower, when he realized someone else was in the hallway. Chuck lifted his groggy head to realize that it was Sarah.
"Hey," Chuck was surprised and a little embarrassed. He was trying subtly yet awkwardly to cover his entire torso with his arms. "What are...I mean good morning."
Sarah had blushed a little as well when she first saw Chuck. She must admit she did like seeing this much of him, but his reaction was what got to her. There it was. Chuck was flustered when he saw her, this was the reaction that she had been missing for the past few days. She felt a flicker of hope. "Ellie and I are going to go suite shopping today before we go to the beach, remember," she said this loud enough that Ellie would hear. She then leaned in and whispered into his ear. "When we heard you moving around Ellie would have been suspicious if I didn't come back to say good morning." Chuck felt a shiver start at his ear and overtake his entire body when he felt her breath on his ear, a large smile overtook his face. He was able to suppress it just a little as he quickly turned to walk into the bathroom, "Ya, I guess she would have." He looked back over his shoulder as he shut the door. Sarah, who had noticed the smile, turned to walk back to the kitchen, with a smile on her face. Today was going to be a good day.
Chuck walked into the kitchen about 15 minutes later. The girls were just gathering their things preparing to leave. "We will be back by 11:00, don't leave without us," Ellie winked at Chuck as she walked towards the door.
"I will see you soon. I can't wait to spend the day with you." Sarah said as she kissed him in the Cheek. "I mean that," she whispered smiling at Chuck before hurrying to catch up to Ellie.
Chuck didn't say anything. He was actually pretty proud of himself for not just melting to the floor when she kissed him, but his heart was racing. The last few days had made it hard to tell the difference between his heart racing due to anger or excitement. Either way, there was no denying that Sarah could still elicit one heck of a response from him. He didn't really have much time to think about it. At that moment he heard Morgan walking from his room toward the kitchen. "Hey buddy, happy birthday."
"Thank you my good man." Morgan was carrying a long cardboard tube along with a duffle bag that seemed to be bursting at the seams.
"What do you have there?"
"Everything needed to make this the greatest birthday in the history of birthdays." He popped open the tube and pulled out what looked like a map of the beach, an itinerary, an official looking permit, what looked like extensive blue-prints for a sand castle, and other random typed papers that were covered in additional notes in Morgan's hand writing. "I have been up since 6 this morning making sure that this day goes off without a hitch."
"6! You didn't leave here until almost 2. What have you been doing?"
"Well I went to the beach and strategically blocked off a prime piece of real estate. I also claimed the best site for a bon-fire for this evening. I wanted to be close to the water and yet allow a buffer to prevent any of the beach jocks or muscle heads from ruining our fun." Chuck laughed because he knew that Morgan was even more uncomfortable around the "Pretty people" at the beach than he was.
"What about the bag?"
"It is full of every beach game and sand toy you can think of." Morgan had a sense of pride as he said this. "Today is going to be awesome, in the words of the Captain."
"Even still why don't we just hang out here for a bit till the girls get back, or else you are going to be too tired to enjoy your own birthday party."
"No can due my friend, I am going to head to the beach to make sure no one encroaches on our turf. I just wanted to see if you could bring the duffle bag when you come to the beach. It is a little to much to carry on my bike."
"No problem. I guess I will see you in a couple hours then." Chuck smiled
"Sounds good, you just be ready for a great time," and just like that Morgan was out the door.
Chuck decided to walk over to Casey's apartment to check in. The apartment was suddenly to quiet as Devon was the only person in the apartment and he was still asleep following a late shift at the hospital. Chuck knocked on the door, only to hear the door unlock. He turned the knob and walked in.
"What do you want Bartowski?" Casey was sitting at the table cleaning his guns.
"Good Morning to you too." Chuck had gotten used to Casey's less than articulate communication skills. "It was just a little too quiet over there," chuck motioned to his apartment. "Thought I would come over here and help get you pumped for the beach."
"Ya, that is not happening," Casey didn't even look at Chuck when he said it.
"Oh, I can motivate people. Just look at the crew at work. It takes major motivational skills to keep them from burning the place down, let alone do any work." This earned him a grunt of agreement from Casey.
"No, I'm not going to the beach. Today is my day off. No baby-sitting for me."
"What, come on big guy? It's going to be fun. I mean you probably won't get to shoot anyone, but it will still be a good time."
"I seriously doubt that, don't worry you won't need me. Your girlfriend will keep you safe."
"Ya." The very short answer was enough to get even Casey's attention.
He could tell something was wrong, and that it had something to do with Walker. Usually the less he knew about those two the better, however this had been dragging on for the last couple days. He convinced himself that if he were to ask Chuck about what was bothering him it would be to prevent the problem from interfering with the team. After all, Chuck nearly blew their cover on their last mission because he was in a tizzy over Walker hanging all over Chip. He, of course, didn't really care what the kid was going through. Yes, he would ask just to try to get the kid back to his annoying yet at least functional self, even though he knew he was going to regret it.
"What no come back, what did Walked do this time?" Casey asked looking back down at his guns. He wanted to suck the words back into his mouth as soon as he had said them. This was a mistake.
Chuck was shocked by the question. It was the first time that Casey actually encouraged him to talk about what was bothering him. He had inadvertently gotten advice from Casey in the past, but it was always cryptic and never just freely given. "Well…uh, I just…"
"Just spit it out." Casey figured there was no getting out of this now. He may as well get it over with as soon as possible. Please just don't talk to me about sleeping with Walker. This thought crossing his mind for the first time.
"Well, I just don't know how you guys do it, that's all. How do you know when someone is lying and when someone is telling the truth?"
"Everyone is usually lying, assume they are and you will do alright." Casey could tell that this was not the answer he was looking for. "That doesn't mean that all lies are bad, sometimes people lie to protect others."
"So Sarah is lying about caring about me to control me for my own good?" Chuck had raised his voice just a little.
Casey chuckled and shook his head. This kid is either a lot dumber than I gave him credit for or is as blind as a bat. "I can't speak for Walker, but I can say that if she were trying to control you by making you fall for her she has not done a very good job." Chuck looked at Casey with a very confused expression. Casey continued, "How many times have you actually stayed in the car? How many times have you disobeyed orders? Didn't you just go rushing head first into a terrorist's house because you thought Walker was in trouble?" Chuck was looking at the floor slightly nodding his head. "Doesn't sound like she has much control over you to me."
Though it was a good point, Chuck had not gotten any real answers. He attempted to ask another question, but Casey made it very clear that he could either pick up a cloth and start quietly polishing one of the knives lying on the table, Casey didn't trust him with a gun after accidentally shooting a man, or go home. He decided to head back over to his room to get ready for the day. As he walked out, Casey glanced in his direction shaking his head, And just think. He isn't half as messed up about this as she is.
Ellie and Sarah got back from their shopping trip right on time. Chuck figured that that had to have been the result of Sarah being along. Ellie would have never been on time returning from shopping. They came through the door with a couple of small bags each, both laughing and smiling. That was another thing that Chuck had always hoped was real. He loved to see Sarah and Ellie getting along so well. I would be so nice for Ellie to have a connection like that with his girlfriend…that is a girlfriend that was really his girlfriend.
Sarah smiled at Chuck when she came through the door. He managed a small smile in return. It was not the large goofy smile that Sarah was hoping for, but it was an improvement over the past few days.
"It looks like you guys had fun," Chuck directed his question to Ellie.
"It was a blast! I could have stayed at the shops all day, but Sarah just couldn't seem to wait to get back to you." Ellie smiled at Chuck as she said this. Chuck glanced at Sarah who was blushing and then at the floor. Ellie looked at both of them and lightly shook her head, "You two are just too cute."
After a few awkward seconds, Ellie decided it was time to show the boys, as Devon had now joined them, the fruits of their labors. Ellie went first pulling out what Chuck described as "a few small pieces of cloth held together with string." When Ellie held the bathing suite against her, Devon's jaw nearly dropped to the floor. Ellie seemed very pleased with her self, and winked at Sarah who just smiled. Next it was Sarah's turn. She lifted one of her bags and pulled out a yellow sun dress. Devon and Chuck both had confused looks on their faces.
"Sarah, you do realize we are going to the beach not out to lunch," Devon asked.
Ellie smacked him in the arm. "I mean it is awesome but I thought you were going to get swim suites." Devon had tried to save himself.
Sarah looked at Chuck, who had only responding by cocking his head to the side and continuing to look confused. "I have a lot of suites already, This is a beach dress for over my suit. Sometimes it is nice to not feel like everyone is staring at you when you are half-naked." Chuck new that Sarah was used to people staring at her. He was even getting used to the reaction she got from men. It really didn't bother him all that much when they stared. Who could blame them? He knew that her reasoning did not seem to fit, but decided to hold off on asking questions.
Devon had accepted her reasoning, thinking that she was just a little more shy than he had realized, and had turned his attention back to Ellie. "Maybe we should go for a run before we leave for the beach," and he winked at her. Ellie laughed and shook her head and said there was no time for that, and started walking toward their room to change. Never being one to give up without a fight Devon followed along pinching her behind, causing her to run to their room giggling.
Sarah and Chuck both watched with smiles on their faces. They turned and looked at each other and felt suddenly awkward. Chuck broke the silence. "Your dress is very pretty."
Sarah took a step closer to him. "I wanted you to feel more comfortable around me today. I didn't want you to think I was trying to use my body as a weapon." She had started out looking into his eyes, but her head had fallen to the floor as she spoke.
"I uh…thanks." Chuck really didn't know what else to say.
They really didn't say all that much as they got ready to leave. They were a little late leaving as it seemed Devon had seemed to convince Ellie to "go for a run" before leaving. Finally though they all hopped into Ellie's car and made it to the beach by a little after one. Chuck knew from looking at the map earlier with Morgan about where he would be. They made their way over carrying a cooler, the duffle bag, and some chairs. The cite Morgan had staked out was really quite a sight. A section of the beach had been taped off with police tape with chairs and blankets arranged all facing the middle of the area. Lying on one of the chairs was Morgan who was sound asleep, which made Chuck smile. It looked as he had been sleeping there since soon after he had arrived. As the group got closer Chuck's smile faded a little. Morgan must have fallen asleep while the sun was blocked by his beach umbrella, though by now he was in the full sun. By the bright pink shade of his skin, it looked like he had been in the sun for quite some time. Chuck stepped over the police line and walked to Morgan's side. "Hey buddy, wake up."
"Hey man, welcome to the beach bash to end all beach bashes." Morgan started out a little groggy but was excited to see the others arrive.
"Morgan, did you put on sun screen?" Ellie asked with concern in her voice.
"I was waiting until someone got here to give me a hand, winking at Ellie. Why do you…" It was at this point that Morgan looked down at his chest. "Oh man, that can not be good."
Devon took a look at Morgan and determined that he should not have any serious problems but he needed to get out of the sun. "It is going to hurt like crazy, but in a couple of days you will be awesome. We just need to get you out of the sun."
"Ah man. I have a whole day planned. There is no way I am going home now." After much debate the group agreed to stay at the beach as long as Morgan stayed completely out of the sun the rest of the day. He was not happy but at least he would get to hang out with everyone, do the bonfire that evening, and there was the fact that the girls all seemed to be a little nicer than usual. About an hour later Anna arrived. She had had the morning shift at Buy More and come over soon after. Chuck had been sitting next to Morgan to keep him company while Ellie and Sarah had taken a walk and Devon was out body surfing. Anna seemed very content to stay with Morgan and rub aloe on him. Morgan seemed ok with this plan as well, so Chuck decided to go for a walk up the beach.
He had been walking for about 20 minutes when he was steam rolled by three very large men one of which was carrying a football.
"Dude are you okay?" came a voice from the very blurry man standing over Chuck.
"Um ya I…I'm good, I'm good. I must not have been paying attention." As Chuck tried to stand up. The man reached down to give him a hand as Chuck heard a more familiar voice.
"Chuck, are you okay?" She was running up to Chuck's side as she yelled. Sarah had gotten back to the chairs shortly after Chuck had left. Morgan had told her that he went for a walk, and she decided to catch up. She had nearly caught up when she decided to just walk behind him a little ways and watch him for a minute. He was obviously deep in thought, and she wanted to give him just a little longer, besides she liked to just watch him. Chuck did not notice the large football game being played as he walked right into their make shift field and he never even heard the people yelling "look out" as the large men were running towards him
Chuck had just about shaken the cobwebs from his mind when he finally saw the man who had helped him up. His eyes glazed over, revealing pictures of a surfboard, a drug lab, the guy shooting another man, the name Billy Wave, and a large stack of money.
The man took the glassy look in chuck's eyes as the after effect of being run over. "Well man, at least you know you can take a hit."
Chuck just smiled very nervously at the man, as Sarah who had just arrived at his side asked again, "Chuck are you ok?"
"Ya, I'm ok. This guy and his friends just had me SEEING STARS for a second." He was hoping that she would pick up what he was saying. She looked at him for a second as if to ask if he was sure. He nodded ever so slightly and thought to himself so much for a day at the beach.