R&R appreciated!

Chap. 2

Ned and Chuck walked down the hazily illuminated street, both stealing the occasional glance at the other before tearing their eyes away and smiling shyly. Though they had been together for a few months- the last few months of Chuck's second life-, their relationship still had a sort of "new car" smell. They knew enough about each other, but definitely didn't know everything.

"So," Ned said lightly, slicing the silence like a knife. "How do you like living with Olive?"

Chuck smiled and nodded, "She's great. You know I never really had a close girl friend like that. I don't know, it makes me feel- important. You know? Like… someone needs your shoulder to cry on and you need theirs?"

"Well what about me?" The nervous pie-maker entered. "I mean, you know you have my shoulder… or rather, a little tiny bit of the edge of my sleeve because that's probably safer." Ned paused and sighed. "Chuck, I just want you to know that I'm not trying to reject you when I don't seem like I'm paying attention. I just don't want you to be… dead again."

Chuck stopped walking. If she could, she would have taken Ned's hand. "Ned," she started. "I know that. Please don't think that I'm ignoring you or rejecting you… I just-I'm not very good at this yet either."

Ned's expression was that of a saddened puppy. His dark eyes glassy and his eyebrows furrowed. Chuck sighed, for it was the only gesture of comfort she could offer. "Maybe we should take a break," she said quietly.

Ned's expression hardened. "A break? Chuck, no. We're already taking a break… You moved in with Olive, isn't that enough?"

Chuck shrugged. "I don't know, is it? I just want to need you, and right now I don't know how to feel about you and that scares me. So maybe we should just separate ourselves for a day or so and see how we feel."

Ned despised this idea, but his overwhelming respect for Chuck won over his emotions. Slowly, he nodded. Chuck felt like crying and turned away her head. They continued walking, in silence, as Digby padded along next to Chuck. Chuck felt the guilt setting in, but she knew this was what she needed.

Olive opened the door to red eyes and wet cheeks. Chuck was sobbing hard, her breathing rapid as she tried to greet Olive.

"Chuck! What is it?" Chuck ushered her in, a saddened Digby following.

"I can't believe I said that!" Chuck sobbed, sitting on Olive's bright pink couch and wiping her face on the bottom of her red dress.

"What?" Olive sat next to her, offering her the tissue box.

"I told Ned…" Chuck started, stopping to blow her nose, "That we needed a break."

Olive didn't know how to feel. Originally this would have excited her immensely, but now she just felt confused. "Oh, Chuck…" Olive pouted. "Did you get in an argument?"

"No, we were just talking and I told him how I felt," Chuck sobbed. "But I can't believe I feel this way. I love Ned, and I owe him the world to be alive again… why do I suddenly not want to be around him?"

For this Olive had no reply, for she did not yet know that Ned brought Chuck back to life with the touch of a finger. Pondering Chuck's odd statement, she stared at Digby. His deep eyes looked into Olive's, signifying an understanding of the situation. She wished she knew what it was that Ned and Chuck were keeping secret, but this was probably not the time to pry.

"Chuck," Olive put a supportive hand on her back, caressing gently just as her mother used to do to her. "I know that Ned loves you more than anything in his life. I've seen it in his eyes. And I know that no matter what bumps you two have to ride over, you will make it in the end."

Chuck looked at Olive, her hand clutching a tissue to her pink cheek. "Thank you Olive," she said. "At least I have one friend…"

Olive snorted. "One friend?? Chuck everyone loves you. Even Emerson, though he would probably never admit it…" Olive said. "And you've got your aun- I mean, Lily and Vivian."

Chuck smiled. "I wish I could see them. You don't know how hard it is thinking you have lost something, but then you end up finding it… and finding more than you bargained for."

Lost something? Olive pondered this again, thinking perhaps she should ask. But just as she was about to open her mouth, there was a knock at the door.

A horrified look spread across Chuck's face, but Olive patted her knee and stood to open the door. Chuck considered leaving, hiding in the bedroom until whoever it was had left. But she knew that if it was Ned, he would worry if he didn't see her here. So she simply turned as Olive put her hand on the doorknob and opened the door.

Emerson Cod, in his brightly coloured purple shirt and knitted green vest, stood in the doorway. He exchanged looks with Chuck, before she smiled and turned away and he raised an eyebrow and shook his head.

"Emerson!" Olive tried to sound happy. "What are you doing here?"

"What, I need a warrant to visit you now too?" Emerson and his typical attitude slowly entered the apartment. Overshadowing the small blonde, Emerson looked again at Chuck and back to Olive. "What's going on in here?"

Olive and Chuck shared a look in which Chuck communicated her desire for Olive to lie. So she did.

"We were watching a really sad movie," she smiled. Not the best liar, Olive over-compensated by smiling too much and twitching nervously. Emerson, a trained private investigator, picked up on this, and gave Olive the eyebrow as well.

"Well I don't know what you all got goin' on in here, but I'm lookin' for Ned," Emerson said.

Chuck's eyes lit up, and Olive flinched. "Oh," she said gravely. "Well, Uhh…"

Emerson leaned forward, pressuring the blonde. "Uhh? That's all you have to say? What's wrong with you two today?"

"He's not here," Chuck said simply, cutting off Olive before she could answer.

Olive nodded and shrugged. "He really isn't… We thought he was with you."

"Look," Emerson said. "We just work together. We don't "hang out" and gossip and giggle like a bunch-a sissies." Emerson paused, noting Olive and Chuck's reactions to being called 'sissies'. "Well, you know what I mean…"

"Hey!" Olive poked Emerson. "We don't gossip and giggle, and we're certainly not sissies! Now what do you want with Ned."

"What do I want with Ned?" Emerson started. "What I want with Ned is the five-thousand dollar reward I've got comin' for solving the case of Bob the Burglar and the estranged jealous wife. I want the money, I need the man."

Olive spoke first. "Well, sorry Emerson but Ned is not here." With that, she attempted to shuffle him out the door, her small body diminutive next to his burly frame.

"Well at least tell him to come find me when he gets back." He pointed his finger at Olive once, then shook his head again and turned to leave.

Olive shut the door quickly and turned back to Chuck. "Where do you think he is?"

Chuck shrugged. "I don't know. Ned goes missing a lot when he's upset. Which means that I really did upset him, which makes me feel worse."

Olive pouted for Chuck.

"Maybe I'll just go to my room," Chuck said solemnly.

"Are you sure?" Olive asked, wondering if there was any way she could get more out of Chuck.

"Yeah," Chuck stood. "Can we talk later?"

Olive nodded as Chuck gave her a little hug and walked down the hall to the spare bedroom that was now hers. It was not until then that Olive realized how she felt about Chuck's situation. She was a little bit excited, but not over the pie-maker. It was, instead, over the girl called Chuck and her present disinterest in Ned.