A/N It's Monday, so I figured I'd give you guys another update. :D
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I turned over on my other side and fell asleep trying to figure out what Chuck had on his mind before he fell asleep. . .
I woke up around six-thirty with no hope of getting back to sleep. I quietly slid out of bed and walked out into the living room where I found Ellie, on the couch drinking some sort of herbal tea.
"Morning." She whispered.
"Good morning. What time did you get home from work?" I asked sitting in the chair adjacent to her.
"About three-thirty, but after a long shift I have trouble staying asleep because I'm so wired from work, so I decided to get something to drink and try to go back to bed. How is Chuck?"
"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about him."
"What's wrong?" She asked, sitting up straight.
"Nothing Is wrong, really. It's just that Chuck is having a hard time getting used to being around you because he's used to you being a kid, rather than being a grown woman with a job and a husband. I just thought you might want to talk with him, because he's worried about telling you what he's going through. He's afraid it might be weird for you."
"Yeah, of course I'll talk with him. I had no idea he felt like that."
"Neither did I, but we were talking last night before bed and he opened up to me about it."
"Well, I'm glad you told me because the last thing I want is for him to be afraid to talk with me." Ellie sighed.
"Well I have to go to Orange Orange until six tonight, so it'll give you guys a chance to talk."
"Yeah. I don't have to work for the next few days because they've called me in so many times this last week, so we'll definitely be spending some time together." Ellie said, putting her teacup on the coffee table.
"I'm going to try to go back to sleep. I'll talk to you later." She walked back toward her and Devon's bedroom.
"Sleep good." I whispered, going into the kitchen to make breakfast.
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At twelve-thirty I was confined to my own personal workplace/prison, Orange Orange.
Work was surprisingly busy, but it was still complete boredom.
Around three-thirty things were starting to die down so I decided to get myself some frozen yogurt. The best selling Orange Orange creamsicle, had been calling my name all day.
I heard the bell chime as the door opened and I saw Morgan walk to the counter.
"Hey."
"Hey how's it going?" I asked taking another bite of frozen yogurt.
"Every thing's fine, just thought I'd stop by on my snack break."
"Do you want some yogurt?" I offered, still devouring my own cup of yogurt.
"Yeah, that'd be great." Morgan said leaning on the counter. "I'll have the usual."
Chocolate frozen yogurt, with blueberries and Oreo pieces. Usually I had told Morgan and Chuck that the combination was sickening, but as I was making the frozen yogurt for Morgan, I found that it actually looked appetizing.
"So, how's Chuck?" He asked as I gave him his cup of yogurt.
"He's good."
"Still no. . . "
"Still no change." I said, finishing his sentence.
"Are you going to take him back to the doctors soon? See if maybe they can help us get normal Chuck back."
"He has an appointment in a few weeks, but as far as they know there isn't anything that can help. We just have to wait. I know it must be hard on you, not having your best friend around. At least not in the way you're used to."
"Yeah, I mean it is very hard, but I like hanging out with Chuck how he is now too. It's been a while since we were equally mature." Morgan said, lightening the mood.
"I love Chuck. Even if he's eight or twenty-eight or a hundred and eight. He's still my best friend you know?"
"I know exactly what you mean." I sighed.
" So, thanks for the frozen yogurt." He said, handing me a five dollar bill.
"Keep it. It's on the house." I smiled.
"Thanks. Well, off to Buymoria yet again."
"Good luck."
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At six thirty-five I was on my way to my pent house apartment to change out of my Orange Orange uniform and into jeans and a t-shirt. This shirt happened to be Chuck's favorite shade of blue.
As I was walking through the bright green door of my home, I heard my phone start ringing. It was Devon.
"Hello?"
"Hey Sarah, can you do me a favor and not come home for thirty minutes or so?" Devon asked mysteriously.
"Um, sure Devon. Why?"
I heard Chuck shhh-ing Devon in the background.
"Can't say. It's top secret."
"Okay? I'll be home around seven."
"See you then. Bye."
"Mmhmm. Bye." I hung up the phone and couldn't help but wonder to myself what Devon and Chuck were up to.
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I made my way through some well overdue paperwork while I had the free time. I nearly got sick when I realized I had yet to do my written report on the mission where Chuck got shot. . . That one could be prolonged a little more, right?
The clock chimed when seven o'clock hit and I put the paperwork aside and left my apartment. At around seven fifteen I pulled into the driveway of Chuck's apartment.
As I made my way through the courtyard I could hear chaos coming from inside the house.
"Get out, she's here!" I heard Chuck yell just as I opened the door.
"Chuck?" I entered the house to find nearly all of the lights off, and a candle lit in the center of the table.
"Hey." Chuck said nervously as he leaned on the kitchen table.
"Why is it so dark in here?"
"It was stupid to turn off the lights, I know. But it was Devon's idea, not mine."
I could hear Devon chuckle from the other room.
Chuck walked over and turned on the lights. "Much better." He sighed.
I hadn't noticed before, but the table was fully set with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on Ellie's fine china, and milk poured into red wine glasses.
"Chuck what is all of this?"
"It's dinner, for our date." He said pulling out a chair for me. "You do like pb&j right? Cause it's all I know how to make."
"Yeah it's great Chuck." I said sitting in the chair. "But why are you doing all of this?"
Chuck sat down in the chair beside me before he answered my question.
"Because I'm your boyfriend, and boyfriends and girlfriends should have dates. Besides how long has it been since the last time you went on a date?"
26 days.
Well, that would be if you count lunch at Arby's after my second sonogram, a date.
"A while." I nodded with a sigh.
"Is this why I had to wait until seven to come home?"
"Yeah. Ellie took forever driving us home from Toys R Us, so I didn't have enough time to fix dinner and set up the table by six-thirty."
"Toys R Us?"
"Yeah, I bought you something." He said picking up a strange shaped box covered in gift wrapping. "But you can't see that until after dinner." He said with a smug grin.
I couldn't help but wonder what Chuck could have bought me from Toys R Us.
"So you ready for dinner?" He asked.
"Mmhmm."
While we were eating our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Chuck started up a new conversation.
"I'm sorry I'm so nervous, this is kinda my, um, first date." He said shyly, as his cheeks turned a soft shade of rose.
"You don't need to be nervous Chuck, you are an awesome date." I said taking a bite of my sandwich.
"Really?" He seemed surprised.
"Oh yeah. This is probably the best pb&j I have ever had."
"Thanks. I couldn't decide between creamy or chunky and I had no idea what kind of jelly you liked so I was really worried you wouldn't like it, and that would ruin the whole date."
"No, it's perfect." I said with a smile.
And as we finished dinner, Chuck handed me the strangely shaped present.
"Go on, open it." He said seemingly excited or nervous, or both.
"Okay." I unwrapped the present and saw something I hadn't really expected.
It was an Iron Man action figure.
"Wow Chuck this is. . . "
"It's for the baby. There aren't any small parts he can choke on or anything, Ellie made sure. I saw these at the store and I thought they were cool, and then I remembered that the baby is going to need some cool toys, so I bought him this."
"Chuck, that's so sweet." I said, holding back tears.
"Are you crying? Did I do something wrong?" Chuck asked.
"No, you didn't do anything wrong. I'm just really happy, that's all." I said putting my hand on his warm arm.
"Oh, okay. At first I thought you were mad because the present was for him and not for you, and I was like 'I'm sorry, because I looked at the store and couldn't find anything for you' and I was worried that I'd ruined the date." Chuck rambled nervously.
"No, Chuck I wasn't anywhere near mad." I said drying my eyes.
"I'm glad." He sighed in relief.
"So, do you have anything else planned for our date?" I asked.
"Um, I don't know. What do you want to do? We can watch a movie or some TV or something. We could play a game. I mean I don't really know what to do on a date."
"We don't have to do anything. We can just hang out."
"You want to go outside?" He asked standing up from the table.
"Sure."
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We walked outside and sat down on the fountain wall.
"Chuck are you okay?" He seemed fidgety and apprehensive.
"Yeah, I'm just a little, um, nervous." He said, swallowing hard.
"About what?" I asked, putting my hand on his shoulder.
"Well, I, um, had another question for you."
"What is It Chuck?"
"I, um, wanted to know if I could, um. . . Never mind."
"What?"
"I wanted to do this." He said.
He leaned forward and touched his lips to mine for no longer than a second. There was a certain innocence about it, and even though they were the same soft lips I was used to, the kiss was different than any other kiss we had ever had before, because it was a very different Chuck.
"Was that weird? I'm sorry, I just. . . " He sighed, his shy voice trailing off.
"It's okay. It wasn't weird at all. I liked it." I assured him.
"Really? Because I was thinking last night and I figured that even though I'm not the boyfriend you're used to, I can still be a good boyfriend right? Thats why I set up this date. I like you a lot, Sarah."
So that's what he was thinking about last night.
The fact that eight year old Chuck still had feelings for me renewed my hope that my Chuck was still somewhere in there, even though he's been gone for almost a month.
We held hands as we walked back inside together. He looked over at me and shyly smiled.
"Thank you for tonight, Chuck."
"You're welcome."
Eight year old Chuck's romantic attempt was very sweet, and made me realize two things.
First, I missed the Chuck that I know very much. And second, that even if I never got my Chuck back, I would stay with this Chuck no matter what. . .
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A/N, okay the kiss.. . Sarah didn't kiss back really, it was very much like the first kiss in seduction training with Roan,(ya know where he's all like "have you ever had intercourse?") Just wanted to clear that up before I got any reviews saying "ewww, Sarah is taking advantage of littlechuck etc etc." :D
Anyways, these next three chapters that will be posted will end up closing this fic up (Unless I do a followup, which I'm really on the fence about) So thanks for sticking with me thusfar, and thanks again for being so awesome.
R&R
