A/N: Had to do a bit of traveling this past week, hence the chapter taking longer to get out than I'd like. To all the readers and reviewers—you're awesome. I knew how I wanted this all to end eventually, but your comments have firmed it up considerably and improved it considerably (…said scenes are not in this chapter, just to be clear), so thank you for that. Disclaimers continue to apply.
-.-.-.-
Day 6: Wednesday
He was laying with a pillow over his face on the couch in Casa Bartowski, waiting for Sarah to return. She had politely excused herself to go use the bathroom as soon as they had walked in the door, only nodding to Ellie and Awesome with a fake smile as she strode to the bathroom. Please oh please let all the fixtures be intact when she's done. With the way she had squeezed his arm across the courtyard, Chuck had visions of finding the bathroom sink kung-fu-ed in half.
Before he could ruminate much longer on the state of the bathroom after Sarah had finished with it, Morgan threw open the front door without warning and marched in with a determined look on his face. Stopping midway between the couch and the door, he folded his hands over his chest and stared at Chuck.
"Chuck, when were you going to tell me that you were quitting the Buy More!"
Chuck propped himself up on his elbows and gave Morgan the strangest look ever; the pillow that was covering his face flopped over on to his chest.
"…what? I told you this morning in the break room!"
Morgan gave him no heed, and turned toward a willing and captive audience—a shocked Ellie and Awesome—to orate with flourish. His tone was far from irate. If anything, Chuck thought, it's like he's making a political speech to them.
"I get the shift schedule for next week, and I see that my buddy over here isn't listed anywhere. So I'm thinking, 'Oh, clerical error!' and say something to Emmett, and THAT'S when I find out that Chuck here QUIT THE BUY MORE yesterday morning. YESTERDAY! It's been over 24 hours since he's quit and he didn't think to call his BEST FRIEND to tell him the news!"
Ellie was in the pre-squeal stage; Chuck was past the pre-shock stage and had moved on to out-and-out shock. At that exact moment, Sarah reentered the kitchen. Morgan spotted her and redirected his energies.
"And YOU! I bet you're the reason Chuck quit—you finally got him to move on to 'better' things. That's great: as the captain of Team Chuck, I applaud your efforts. But, hey, Sarah—you've got to be a team player. You've got to consult the rest of us when you get Chuck to make these life-altering decisions."
Sarah and Chuck's eyes connected across the room, communicating a mixture of confusion (contributed mostly by Sarah) and amusement (Chuck). While Chuck tried to figure out what had gotten into Morgan, the bearded man spied Sarah's left hand, strategically planted on her left hip to shield it temporarily from Ellie and Awesome. Morgan's eyes went wide and he pointed steadily at her hand, speaking in tone that continued to be far more ridiculous in nature than irate or agitated.
"What. is. that. Is that what I think it is? I am losing my best friend to…to…wait, did you hold my man Chuck over a barrel and tell him that you refused to marry him until he quit the Buy More, because that would NOT be awesome. And, Chuck, TWO life-altering decisions in one week and you DID NOT THINK TO CONTACT YOUR WINGMAN FOR ADVICE? What's next, you two moving in together! Man, kids these days…"
Morgan had clearly intended the comment about moving in to be a joke, but Chuck's expression morphed into an exasperated one. Sarah's eyebrows shot up, not quite believing what was unfolding in front of her and how her day was shaping up in general. I would have stayed in there longer if I had known I'd walk smack into this. After Casey, her patience was wearing thin—she had barely gotten herself under control in the bathroom. Morgan, in the span of two minutes, managed to announce every piece of major news that she figured would have come out tonight. And she had to play the role of ecstatic girlfriend/fiancée, when ecstatic was the last thing in the world she was feeling right now. Morgan's antics would have been amusing any time other than now. I'm going to get whiplash: we go from Casey being Casey to Morgan being…Morgan. At least the latter trumps the former.
Morgan noticed their expressions and dramatically staggered back, clutching his chest.
"No no no no no…Chuck! You've got to be kidding me! Dude, no more Call of Duty tournaments! No mo…no more Morgan door?"
Interpreting Sarah's still raised eyebrows as a "what did you tell him?" death stare carried over from their meeting with Casey—not far from the truth, but not completely accurate—Chuck had popped up to his knees to peer over the back of the couch and was emphatically waving his arms around and shaking his head no.
"I told him I quit this morning while he was drinking his Red Bull! I promise! He just totally guessed all of that!"
WE haven't even talked about moving in together yet!, he silently added. The words had come out so fast that Chuck himself sounded like he had just downed a Red Bull. Ellie was clutching on to Awesome, beginning to jump up and down, but she seemed to be waiting to really let loose until Sarah or Chuck directly confirmed Morgan's revelations. Not receiving much direction from Sarah, who was trying to keep herself together, Chuck weakly smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
"Surprise?"
Just as Ellie let out a squeal with previously unheard volume and started jumping up and down, Casey stepped through the still open front door. The volume of Ellie's squeal managed to startle the hardened NSA agent, sending the bottle of wine he had brought as a peace offering crashing down to the ground, soaking everything in a five-foot radius in red wine…including himself. Eyes instantly finding each other from across the room, Sarah and Chuck thought the same thing: Karma? A smirk crossed Chuck's face, and despite her worsening mood, Sarah felt a matching smirk creep across her face. To his credit, Casey held in the growl that nearly erupted at the sight.
Forcing himself to be polite, the wine-soaked agent excused himself to go change, Ellie still squealing all the while. Casey was halfway across the courtyard to change again before she stopped, but only to lock Sarah in a rib-crushing hug.
"OH MY GOD! That's great, Chuck! Sarah! Chuck! That's…great!"
Wow, El, he thought, that was eloquent. After initially taken aback, Sarah eventually returned the hug for a few seconds before looking up at Chuck as Ellie continued to hug her like no tomorrow. Seeing Sarah's look—a cross between "not-quite-ready-for-this" and "help!"—Chuck scrambled over the back of the couch to provide backup. He came up behind them and put his hand on Ellie's shoulder.
"We can't get married if you kill her, sis."
The thought of them not getting married managed to permeate Ellie's hyper-excitement, and she let Sarah go long enough to turn and wrap Chuck in a similar hug. It took him a few tortured gasps before he had enough air to speak.
"We can't get married if you kill me, either."
As soon as Ellie let him go, Chuck wrapped an arm around Sarah to deter any further hugging. In doing so, he accidentally brushed against a bare patch of skin between her jeans and tanktop. Her breath caught at the unanticipated contact. Clamping down on the other responses of her traitorous body, Sarah put her hand over Chuck's and moved it to a more safe location, one covered with clothing. I've really had it with…today. Is a few minutes to pull it together and think too much to ask for? Her mind, unbidden, went to the calm and serenity of her recent mornings, and she found herself ardently wishing that the day would end so the morning would come.
Awesome, silent the whole time, was now holding back Ellie while she asked more questions, lest she pounce on Chuck or Sarah again…or the two of them simultaneously. I bet Ellie could manage the double hug, Chuck thought, if the cheerfulness in her voice was any indication.
"When did this happen?"
Still focusing intensely on calming down, Sarah missed Ellie's question entirely. Chuck waited for a moment to see if she'd answer before realizing that her mind was a million miles away and rushed to fill the silence before Ellie had a chance to a.) ask more questions or b.) become skeptical.
"Uh, last night, actually…"
He bumped Sarah slightly with his hip, breaking her concentration and making her aware again of the world around her—Chuck giving her a sidelong look as Ellie stared at them both expectantly, waiting for more. Shit, Walker, get your head in the game. If you don't start talking soon, Ellie will be get suspicious. SPEAK!
Luckily for Sarah, Awesome noticed her expression and Ellie's increasing excitement. He steered Ellie back toward the kitchen, away from Chuck and Sarah, and noting the presence of Casey again, suggested that everyone sit down for dinner. Clearly unwilling to let Ellie carry anything that could be sent airborne, Awesome began carrying dinner to the table and raised his eyebrows knowingly as Chuck pushed in Sarah's chair.
"I bet last night was quite the night, eh, Chuckster?"
In the process of sitting down in his own chair by the time Awesome finished, Chuck almost landed on Sarah as he missed the chair. Clearing his throat, they shared one of their blistering, intense looks. Sarah was the one to break it, eyes lowering as she took a sip of wine. Chuck replied while lowering himself into the chair without further mishap.
"Oh it was interesting, alright."
Grabbing a beer, Casey caught the look that passed between the two of them before Chuck answered. Both were slightly red and fake smiling, but their eyes told a different story. The near-shoot out at his apartment earlier now made sense. Oh hell, these two didn't sleep together last night, but almost did. I hate lady feelings. Understanding the magnitude of the minefield he had managed to walk into earlier, and thinking ahead to the mission at the end of the week, he downed the entire beer in one gulp, prompting shocked looks from everyone at the table. He shrugged as he lowered it.
"Rough day at work. Sorry."
The "sorry" was subtly directed at Sarah, whose head whipped toward Casey. He looked at her long enough to communicate his message before turning his head toward Ellie, who had begun clapping rapidly again. The clapping hadn't registered with Sarah because she was still processing the Casey look. Shit, Casey knows…somehow. How the hell does he know? Does he have a sixth sense for these things? Sarah took a longer sip of wine to put off any feelings of panic, worry, or killing.
Meanwhile, Ellie stopped clapping long enough so that she could talk.
"You know what's going to be a lot of work? Planning two weddings at once! It's going to be so much fun!"
The wine that Sarah had just sipped spilled back into her glass as her head snapped forward. Chuck patted her back as she coughed a few times. She was still trying to wrap her mind around being engaged to Chuck—she hadn't even gotten to the whole planning-the-wedding and marriage part. Panic beginning to bubble up, her hand unconsciously found its way to Chuck's knee under the table for moral support, causing him to jump slightly in his seat and tense up. Sarah spoke as calmly as she could.
"Planning two weddings at once is a little crazy. You guys got engaged first, so how about we finish yours first before moving on to…ours?"
"Ours" sounded foreign coming from Sarah's mouth. She had almost said "the other wedding" before realizing how impersonal it sounded. Ellie mulled the suggestion over, and answered in the tone she usually reserved for Chuck during her big-sister talks.
"I think we could do both at once, but if that's what you guys want, that's fine with me. But, if we can't plan both weddings at once, I think we're going to need to throw a little engagement party on Saturday! What do you guys say?"
Chuck and Sarah glanced at one another, knowing what the answer had to be. Sarah was the one to answer with as much cheer as she could muster, but both had fake smiles plastered across their faces.
"Sounds great!"
Their thoughts, however, were the complete opposite as they resumed eating.
Sounds like hell on Earth.
"Speaking of our wedding," Ellie continued while doling out the salad, "the dresses…," and she proceeded to describe, in nauseating detail, what the problem was with the bridesmaids' dresses. Sarah contributed little to the actual discussion except agreeing to meet Ellie at the bridal shop tomorrow on their lunch hour to see how many alterations were needed.
Morgan was still collapsed in the armchair, taxed from his dynamic presentation and the stark reality that everything he posited was true. At the conclusion of the dress talk, he sullenly made his way to the table, at long last. He spoke as he sat down and began scooping food on to his plate.
"After considering our situation, I think what needs to happen here are open-to-closers tomorrow and Friday, Chuck."
Chuck's expression turned to the one present whenever Morgan suggested a completely ludicrous idea: eyes slightly narrowed, brows furrowed, and an overall confused look. The fact that Chuck hadn't uttered a word in a good 15 minutes because of Ellie talking about dresses amplified his confusion.
"Morgan, you do realize that I'm leaving the Buy More. Why would I work MORE hours—every hour the store is open, in fact—between now and Friday?"
Morgan picked up his fork and began waving it about as he explained his logic.
"Because we need to maximize the amount of bonding time we have before you leave! Chuck and Morgan…Morgan and Chuck…an era is coming to an end!" He paused. "…plus, you didn't consult me on any of these decisions of yours lately. We need to reconnect!"
Sarah knew what Chuck's decision was going to be before he said it aloud. Him refusing his best friend anything would never happen. She tried to preempt him.
"Sweetie, I think that really sounds…"
"...like a great plan!," he finished, cutting her off. "Sure, Morgan. I think I can swing that."
Sarah slowly turned her head to glare holes through the side of Chuck's head. If we need mission prep, when the hell are we going to have time for it, if he's working 9am to10pm? When am I going to see him at ALL between now and then? The second thought was ignored for now—You were the one just wishing for time to think, agent mode chimed in, looks like you got it. Chuck felt her staring and turned to receive the full death glare. Words were tumbling out of his mouth as soon as the intensity of Sarah's glare registered.
"…buuuuuuuuuut not Friday night. We," acknowledging Sarah with a tilted head, "we have plans already, so not Friday. Friday night…yeah, Friday's bad."
Chuck's bumbling answer resulted in the glare being downgraded from deadly to disabling. Morgan missed Sarah's reaction and started talking in a sing-song voice, elated.
"Dude, aweeeeeeeeesomeeeeeeee! CALL OF DUTY TOURNAMEEEEEEEEEEENT! I never thought you'd go for it, since you've got the emergency line tonight…"
Sarah had stopped glaring at Chuck to sip her wine again, but Morgan's comment about Chuck having a shift for the after-hours Nerd Herd line brought the glare back in no time as she slowly lowered her wine glass to the table.
"You're on call tonight?"
It sounded more like a statement than a question when Sarah said it. Casey couldn't help himself—he let out an amused grunt. Chuck nervously chuckled as he suddenly found cutting up his food to be very interesting.
"Emmett gave me the shifts tonight, yeah—call volume's still kind of high for the virus stuff, and you know how…efficient the others tend to be."
"Shifts? Plural?"
He suddenly saw where this was going. I'm so dead. Either Sarah was playing the role of the miffed fiancée very well, or she was actually mad. Please please please let it be the first one.
"I'm on call all night."
"So you're telling me that you've just committed to working over 30 hours the next two days for a job you no longer have after this week?"
OK, thinking that it's not the first one. When she puts it like that, I really do sound like a schnook. God, I'm so out of practice when it comes to the whole having-a-pseudo-real-girlfriend thing. He risked a quick glance over at Ellie, who was shaking her head at her little brother's dense moment.
"…yesssss?"
She was far from amused. Chuck was giving her the innocent puppy dog eyes, and he may have been able to extract himself from the doghouse if Morgan hadn't enthusiastically piped in, the words sounding much better in his head than they did aloud.
"Look at the bright side. If you guys break up, then you don't have to leave the Buy More, Chuck!"
Sarah and Chuck stopped looking at one another to simultaneously turn toward Morgan and give him one of the dirtiest looks in history. Ellie and Awesome contributed as well, though their stares were not as intense as the ones from Chuck and Sarah, though Ellie came close. Casey merely punctuated the moment by muttering "moron" before he resumed eating. Suddenly remembering that Sarah wanted to kill him for his actions previous week, Morgan stared at the tabletop and shrank in his chair, muttering apologies. His eyes didn't leave the tabletop for the rest of the evening.
-.-.-.-
Day 7: Thursday
"Oh thank God, we won't have to take it in that much."
The relief in Ellie's voice was evident as the bride-to-be saw that the dress-fastener fiasco wasn't much of a fiasco at all. Sarah, standing in front of a panel of mirrors in said bridesmaid dress, was feeling far from relieved. The rest of dinner had been absurdly civil, if only because of the watcher in the courtyard. She hadn't spent the night at Casa Bartowski because of Chuck being on call—she still had no desire to be woken often by a phone. So, she'd slept alone…and had slept horribly. Staying at Chuck's and being woken by his phone every hour would have still produced a more restful night, which did nothing to improve her mood because of what it implied.
She'd finally eschewed sleep and went into work at 5am, but hadn't been able to focus on anything—the combination of no sleep and the new cover were finally starting to take their toll. She assumed that not spending the night at Chuck's would help, but had been unbelievably incorrect. When was the last time I was able to actually THINK, Sarah thought. The only times that came to mind were the temporary moments of clarity in the SUV and the elevator, and neither of those had very pleasant consequences. With the entire morning shot because of her inability to focus, she'd met Ellie at the bridal shop on her lunch break…and still hadn't seen Chuck yet.
Ellie's concerned voice broke through her thoughts.
"Are you OK? You seemed really out of it last night."
Sarah held in a sigh. She had worried about Ellie noticing her behavior the previous night, but thought she'd managed to escape scrutiny when the brunette hadn't mentioned anything during dinner. Guess not. Channeling some of her rapidly dwindling energy reserves, she put a smile on her face.
"Oh yeah, I'm fine. I just wasn't anticipating so much happening at once…or at all, really. I didn't think we'd ever be getting married, so I still can't quite believe that we are, if that makes sense."
Great job keeping up the cover, there. Actually, why don't you just make it easier for everyone and tell her the actual story, for Christ's sake. No sleep was apparently making her inner monologue more snippy than normal, too. The allusion to Sarah's previous employer made Ellie hesitate.
"Can I ask you something about your old job?"
Agent mode reappeared. We're in the middle of a bridal shop and Ellie wants to talk about the CIA? Shit. Her instincts told her to tell Ellie no, but she wasn't supposed to care about her old job anymore. I hate this new cover.
"Within reason, sure."
Eyes slightly wide after understanding the hidden message in Sarah's response, Ellie stepped up on to the fitting platform so she wouldn't have to shout.
"Would you really have left Chuck?"
Sarah's eyes snapped to Ellie's reflection in the mirror. She had been expecting something about her actual job, like 'Have you ever killed a person' or 'How much did Chuck really know,' not something about her and Chuck specifically. It was one question that she did not want to think about—its answer was far too real. Could this week get any worse? Drawing in a breath before answering, she fell back on their new cover story.
"I quit so I wouldn't have to, if that's what you're asking."
"I know you quit, but if you couldn't and they'd tried to transfer you…"
My God, it has to be genetic—Ellie's as bad as Chuck is. Are they incapable of being satisfied with any spy-like answer? She tried to choose her words carefully.
"I would have left LA, if I couldn't quit."
Ellie looked horrified, and put her hand on Sarah's shoulder. Big-sister mode reared its head as Ellie studied Sarah seriously.
"Even though you're absolutely in love with him? You would have left?"
Being the CIA's top agent was no match for the stare of Dr. Eleanor Bartowski. The woman's gaze demanded answers, and Sarah was spewing out the reason she'd rationalized a million times, trying to ignore the tightness in her chest occurring at the utterance of the "l" word.
"It's the job, Ellie. We're…hired because we're qualified for it, and in return for being able to do what we're good at, they expect compliance or else lots of people are in…trouble. It's...it's complicated."
Brilliant, Walker. What happened to falling back on the COVER story, not the ACTUAL story! Ellie look less than convinced, but as quickly as the serious moment came, it passed. Ellie let go of her shoulder and pointed Sarah's left hand with a broad smile across her face.
"That sounds absolutely ridiculous to me. Good thing you could quit. They sound like they're no fun to work for."
How reassuring: Ellie thinks the real reason Chuck and I can't be together is absolute crap. Sarah forced out a small chuckle to match Ellie's suddenly cheerful mood, but it took her an extra second to get rid of the grim smile as the seamstress finally appeared out of nowhere to mark where the dress had to be taken in.
"Let's just say that they aren't the most friendly people ever."
"The complete opposite of Chuck?"
Sarah laughed, the statement being far too accurate for words. She looked very thoughtful as she answered.
"Yes, the complete opposite of Chuck."
-.-.-.-
Chuck was on his sixth cup of coffee since the store had opened. Working from open to close after a night filled with sporadic phone calls and other distractions was proving to be a very bad idea. Just let me close my eyes for a few seconds…
Next thing he knew, it was 5 minutes later and Sarah was shaking his shoulder and calling his name. Face stuck to the Herder counter, as can only happen when one falls asleep at work, he slowly moved his head around to unstick himself before sitting up. Blinking a few times to focus his eyes, he found a very concerned Sarah looking at him, hand still resting on his shoulder.
"You OK?"
After spending her lunch break with Ellie, Sarah had decided to visit Chuck once she got back. Seeing him passed out on the desk had sent her into protective mode without realizing it. Did someone drug him? Knock him unconscious?
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Morgan insisted on staying after you left last night and…"
Her jaw set at the mention of Morgan, and Chuck's deliberate emphasis on "insisted" meant she didn't need to hear the rest of the sentence to guess how it would end—something involving video games and grape soda, no doubt. Her mood was marginally better than it was at dinner, but not by much. The fact that Morgan had spent the night with Chuck instead of her did not bode well for Morgan's well-being. Glancing quickly around the store for the offender, she pulled Chuck to his feet when the bearded green shirt was nowhere in sight.
"Let's go. You're taking a power nap."
"A nap? Where?"
"Home theater room. Come on."
She led him toward the home theater room with little resistance. He weakly protested, the sleep haze impacting coherent thought.
"But…I'm supposed to be working…"
"…because you stupidly volunteered to work, not because the store needed the extra person. This isn't negotiable."
Entering the home theater room, its blinds were already drawn. She barely had a chance to make sure the door latched behind them, ensuring no audio eavesdropping because of the secret communications suite installed in the room, before Chuck to continued toward the couch, pulling her with him. They were both laying down, her on top of him, before she could fully register what was happening. Still a little out of it, Chuck loosely put his arms around her before speaking while burrowing his shoulders into the couch and closing his eyes.
"Casey wanted me to ask you about the security plans if I saw you at all today."
She let out a very Casey-sounding growl as she continued to fidget around while figuring out how to get off the couch with as little contact as possible. It didn't occur to her that, in fidgeting, she was already producing more contact than was necessary.
"Were those his exact words?"
"No, his exact words were, 'If Walker doesn't dump you or kill you over Morgan's idiocy or your own and you actually see her today, tell her that I'm still waiting for my system specs.' Then he went to shoot someone, or so he said."
Instead of responding, or visibly reacting, Sarah attempted to roll off the couch. I can't kill Casey or talk to him in case we're being watched out in the store, but I WILL pace while I have the opportunity. And being this close to Chuck is a bad idea. Chuck's hold around her waist tightened. His sleep haze was now gone.
"Stop squirming already. How am I supposed to nap when you're acting like a jumping bean?"
The clarity in his voice surprised her, and she tensely stopped moving around. Chuck shifted around a bit to get comfortable, but he finally sighed as he spoke again.
"Seriously, super secret ninjas are not going to come out of the ceiling in the next 20 minutes. Could you relax just a little, please?"
There are 100 reasons why I shouldn't do that, she thought, but she could already feel herself relaxing as she noticed his steady heartbeat. They were relaxed on the couch for all of 30 seconds before Sarah shot back up. Chuck, almost back asleep but not quite, opened one eye to find her gazing down at him with a determined look on her face.
"Taking a nap works better if you actually lay down."
"I just figured out how we're going to get the security plans."
Sarah Walker, Super Spy strikes again, he thought. Does the woman ever have an off-day? Or an off switch, even?
"And how are we getting the vaunted plans?"
"How are your hacking skills?"
He was wide awake now and sat up against the couch arm. Reacting instinctively to his shifting, Sarah rolled so that her back was against the couch and her head rested on his shoulder.
"Uh, officially, I've never hacked a computer in my life."
"Uh huh. And unofficially?"
"They're …above par, shall we say. Why?"
"You're going to hack into Fort Knox's server and get the files. Officially, I'll pass off the hack attempt as something I asked you to do to test our internal security, and you'll have to make it look like you didn't actually take anything. I win because I'm doing my job—protecting the company's operations and security—and since everyone's in love with you, there's no way they'll be angry at you. If anything, they'll love you more. Everyone wins."
The last portion of the sentence was delivered with a tinge of annoyance. Chuck picked up on it. Oh my God, is Sarah Walker…jealous? He was about to say something, but Sarah beat him to it, all too familiar with the look Chuck got when he was about to ask something somewhat personal.
"Don't even think about going there. Does that sound do-able or not?"
He bit back the comment on the tip of his tongue and squeezed his eyes shut as he seriously thought about her proposition.
"If I can do it, hacking their server's going to take some time. I'm not sure I'm going to have enough of it, if Casey needs that stuff by tonight so he can look it over."
"How long until you know for sure?
Eyes open once again, he pondered the ceiling as he mentally calculated.
"Not until I start working on it. I can give you a better guess then."
It wasn't the answer she wanted to hear, but it would have to do. If Chuck couldn't hack the server, she was going to have to get the file a much more obvious, intrusive way.
"OK, just let me know. Now, you need to sleep, or else you won't function later."
Chuck was out cold in minutes, but Sarah never quite fell asleep. Being near him was calming enough. When Sarah exited the room 15 minutes later, she found Morgan casually hovering outside the door. She smiled at him sweetly, which made him visibly gulp.
"Morgan, you are to let Chuck sleep for an hour and then wake him up. OK?"
He could only nod before fearfully scampering away to hide in the DVD section. The sight brought a small smile to Sarah's face. Inexplicably feeling relaxed and in a better mood, Sarah was halfway across the parking lot before she spotted the lime green Beetle, parked in the same place as it was on the surveillance tapes. She forced the smile to say on her face as her mood abruptly tanked as she reopened the Orange Orange after her extended lunch break. The occupant of the Beetle was oblivious to the change, noticing only the smile across her face the entire time.