A/N: Who knew getting positive reviews could be such a thrill? I certainly didn't. Anyway, not 24 hours after my first chapter, I bring you the second chapter. More A/N after the story though, so stick around.

Disclaimer: We should all hope and look towards the day where man realizes that the sounds exiting his mouth are mostly complaints and a change occurs... Wait, this isn't a Chevelle song? Oh, in that case, I don't own Chuck, Nile or any other thing I referenced, except for copies Gears of War and Call of Duty Modern Warfare II.

Chapter 2

All in all, Chuck was pretty content with his life. He had a wonderful, amazing, awesome, out-of-this-world, brilliant, gorgeous sister (he could've found a few more adjectives to describe her, but thought that this covered most of Ellie) who was engaged to an amazing guy, with an even better nickname. Seriously, his nickname was Captain Awesome. It couldn't have been more awesome if he tried. And not only that, but he got to work with his childhood friend, doing what they loved for a rather decent pay.

So, maybe life didn't turn out exactly the way he had imagined it. He always figured he'd end up in the software business. It's what he had set his heart on when he applied for a scholarship at Stanford. But it turned out that fate, destiny, God, Karma, Zeus or any other sort of deity or time-related essence you believed in had a few cruel tricks to play on young Chuck. So when he found… her… on top of Bryce Larkin, well, he'd had a strong reaction to it, and let's just leave it at that. Still, as he lamented before, it wasn't all bad. As a matter of fact, over the course of the past few years, his life had grown into an enjoyable buzz. Of course, a major part of this was the fact that that ridiculously gorgeous woman, Sarah Walker, had chosen him to be her main conversation partner.

So okay, maybe he sometimes fantasized about what it would be like to do other stuff to her. But who was he kidding. He didn't deserve someone like her. Jill said it herself right? If he couldn't even keep Jill interested, what hope would he have to keep up with Sarah freakin' Walker. And besides, even though he hadn't seen any indication, how the hell could she not be taken. So Chuck just took what he got, and kept his (frequent) fantasies to himself like any self-respecting human being should do.

His mind blinked back to the conversation at hand. The current score was Chuck 2 – 0 Morgan. They'd successfully closed the discussion about Final Fantasy and CoD. It was time for Retro.

"So Morgan, about Zork. It's obvious that Zork was used as a commentary on society and it's… What?" Morgan was looking at him like he'd lost his mind. "Buddy, I've done actual research on the game, I know what I'm talking about."

"Are you an idiot?" Morgan asked.

"Excuse me?" Chuck blinked. His friend had never actually called him that. Actually, he'd never even used a derogatory name to describe anyone, ever. Not even people who, in Chuck's honest opinion, really had it coming. Actually, that wasn't true. He did use a derogatory term once. After Chuck had told Morgan about what happened at Stanford, Morgan had one of the greatest rants that Chuck had ever heard in his life. He was in such awe of the speech that he had it written down, signed by Morgan and framed above his bed. He still chuckled when he read it. As a matter of fact, just thinking about it made him chuckle. But there was no time to reminisce, his friend had insulted him and the situation needed rectifying. First, an explanation was in order.

"Morgan, what the hell are you talking about?" He was quite proud of that retort, truth be told.

"You really don't see it do you? I mean, even I didn't see it for a while, but it's so obvious that the fact you haven't picked up on it yet should be a crime."

Chuck felt a small amount of annoyance building inside of him. Sure, he'd had a ridiculous amount of patience with the little bearded man, and they did go through a lot. But he'd just gotten his hands on an advanced copy of Call of Duty Modern Warfare II. And it was crap. So his mood wasn't in the best of spirits. So when he uttered his response, it carried just a bit of venom. Just a smidge though. "You're going to have to be a little bit more descriptive than that, Morgan."

"Oh yeah, I bet. But it was to be expected, seeing as how you still have no clue what's going on, and I'm telling you Chuck, it's been going on for a long time now."

"Morgan, just tell me what it is. If I agree with you, than you can call me whatever the hell you want. If not however, as of the Bro Code, Section 28, paragraph 3a. and I quote: "If one's Bro, insults the Bro in any form without a formal base for said insult, he reserves the right to slap said Bro. So sayeth the Bro Code." So you'd best tell me what's going on before I decide to enforce the code."

"Dude, it's Sarah. She wants you man. She wants you bad." Morgan said. Chuck figured he would put his hands up in exasperation to emphasize his point, if he wasn't holding a sandwich. But that wasn't the main thought that was registering in his frontal lobe though.

"Morgan, seeing as how we're friends, I'll give you a five second head start before I'll bring down the fury. You insulted me over your silly delusions? Really? I thought we were better friends than that." Chuck answered.

"Dude, Chuck, come on man. Look, I know that you're all into the whole: "Oh, I don't deserve happiness, no one wants me." thing, but seriously dude, you're so much more than that. I knew you when you went to Stanford man, you were always an amazing catch. And I'm not saying this to be nice. Take it from your hetero-sexual life partner, you are good enough to get someone like Sarah."

Chuck blinked, trying to snap himself out of his stupor. He failed. So he continued to look in Morgan's direction, glassy eyed. After what seemed like at least a minute of staring, he shook himself out of it. "I'm sure that even if that were even remotely possible, you've missed two core points. One: It's Sarah. Who in their right mind wouldn't pursue her? It's obvious that if she isn't already in a relationship, we're definitely living in an alternate universe where gorgeous, intelligent and amazing are no longer characteristics which people find attractive. And two: It's Sarah dude. I'm Chuck, I play video games for a living. I live with my sister and her fiancé. It'd be like Samus dating Raiden. Why the hell would Samus go for Raiden if she can get Snake?"

"Valid point, Chuck. I totally agree with you." Morgan said. Chuck was about to thank him and ask him to drop the subject when he continued. "But then again, you always did remind me of Snake."

Chuck looked at him. Finally he sighed. "Alright Morgan. I don't know who spiked your drink, but it's causing you to hallucinate. Maybe the sun finally got to you. It happened to me once before, it wasn't pretty. Anyway, I've got the new Gears of War to review, so I'm going to head home. I'll see you tomorrow, alright?"

Morgan looked dumbstruck. "Dude, yeah, whatever man. Don't forget though, we've still got that TDM game tonight. Please tell me I can count on you watching my back?"

"Don't worry buddy, I've got you covered." Chuck said. He started walking away from his cubicle when another fleeting glance over his shoulder revealed the back of Sarah Walker talking to Langston Graham. God, he loathed Langston. He remembered the day where he went and applied to the L.A. Daily. Langston was there to conduct his job interview. He'd never seen someone act so prejudiced in his life.

It wasn't that he wasn't used to being picked on for having nerdy tendencies. It happened a lot at school as well. He understood the social system enough to know that people who differentiated from the norm were freaks by default. Sure, it meant that he had to endure a lot of ribbing, but so be it. What he didn't like was that he was making a conscious effort to be professional here. Sure, he knew that game reviews were probably not the hot commodity in real life as they were in his life, but that didn't mean that what he did was any less than for example a restaurant critique. To each their own, was always something that Chuck held sacred. But Graham had simply dismissed him after explaining what he wanted to do for the paper. Chuck had to do some fast talking to get out of that one. Which wasn't easy, as when he'd get nervous he would usually start babbling. But he somehow held his ground, and convinced Graham to read one of his reviews before shooting him down.

When he got home later that day, he was a nervous wreck. He had to convince Langston Graham that he was good enough to write for them. Talk about free-climbing K2 with no oxygen… Yeah, he probably spent a bit too much time with Devon. But then Ellie, as she always did, intervened. She made him feel comfortable. She made him feel like he could do crazy stuff such as defusing bombs and other nonsense that you would only see in TV shows. She pushed him to write, and he did. He wrote a review that, when he reread it later on, made him drool. Then Ellie suggested something that turned out to be an absolute gem of an idea. She figured that after he'd given his review to Langston, he should try and slip in the fact that he's been approached by a few other newspapers. She suggested the Daily Telegraph, as that was the main competitor with the L.A. Daily.

At first, Chuck had been appalled. He didn't want to have to lie, even less, lie to his potential boss. But Ellie cleared his conscience for him, by giving him a five minute talk about how corporate America worked. So he reluctantly agreed. And, truth be told, the plan worked like a charm. After casually dropping a bomb that rivaled the Manhattan Project, Langston went over himself trying to get Chuck to agree. Of course, Ellie was prepared for this as well, and instructed him to play hard to get. Obviously, this was a foreign concept to Chuck, but he put on his (admittedly small) air of mystery, and played it cool. The rest, as they say, was history.

Still, Chuck couldn't help let his mind wander to a place where Morgan could be right. A place where him and Sarah might actually happen. A place where the Matrix sequels weren't such a ridiculous disaster. A place where Heath Ledger didn't have to pass away and they could have another outstanding performance as the Joker. A place where Firefly could actually have six seasons and a movie, instead of one and a movie. He dubbed this place Glornax Seven. Glornax 7 was a beautiful place, where women like Sarah would go for guys like him. Oh well. Time to turn back to real life, and trudge on with the working middle class. After all, he did have a review about Gears of War to write. CliffyB was rather enthusiastic about his first one. He just hoped that the game would allow for another one of those reviews to be written.

He passed his cubicle, and picked up his messenger bag, note pad and USB stick. After making sure that he was logged out of the system, he turned off his monitor and headed for the exit. He'd just about reached it, when he was blindsided by Devon.

"Hey bro, can I talk to you for a quick second?"

"Holy crap! Devon, you scared the shit out of me." Chuck wheezed out. His heart was beating at such a ridiculous speed that he was worried it might just over-exert itself and shut down on the spot.

"Sorry man, but really. It's important that I talk to you. It's about Sarah."

"Oh, good God, not you too. Look, Morgan already talked to me about it. I don't know where you guys are getting your stories from, but I'm beginning to think you guys have a subscription to Asylum Weekly. I appreciate what you are trying to do, I really am. Trying to boost my self-esteem by making me believe Sarah's interested in me. But seriously, it's beginning to get depressing. So please, stop making cruel jokes at my expense, I'm not in the mood. I'll see you at home Devon." Chuck said, before he continued on with his journey towards his car.

Before he walked out of the office part of the building though, he spared one last glance at Langston's room. He saw that Sarah was out of his office though. So, being the gentleman that he was, he waved at her. Her wave back to him caused him to blush again. He didn't know why it happened, and he was cursing it every damn day. Ellie told him it was cute, but if there was one person who was biased about everything Charles Irving Bartowski, it would've been Eleanor Faye Bartowski. Why couldn't he be more suave? If only he could channel his inner James Bond a bit better. Maybe he'd stand a one in a million chance. He liked those odds better than his current one, which stood at one in a quintillion.

He got in his car, an old Ford which his dad had left him and Ellie, and turned on the radio. He was greeted by the opening chords of The Good Left Undone by Rise Against. People always told him he had a great singing voice, but they never heard him try punk-rock. As he belted along to the lyrics, he was happy that his car offered at least the sense of solitude. When he did finally reach Echo Park, his mood had improved slightly. It was as if the radio producers in L.A. got a memo that described his mood and decided to adjust their playlist accordingly.

He opened the door, to a delicious scent. His finely trained nostrils, which had graduated summa cum laude from the Eleanor's Culinary Institute detected a tomato sauce, based on oregano and basil, ground beef and a little mascarpone for that sublime creamy finish. He felt the saliva build in his mouth, and was drawn to the sound in his stomach that made him think of the documentary about pairing habits of the wild-life in Africa. While the analogy there was deeply disturbing, it somehow fit.

"Ellie, I'm home!" He shouted. He was more than a little peeved to find that his sister didn't appear to be home. He did find a note though.

Hey Chuck,

I'm still at the hospital, code blue. You know the deal. Anyway, I made a sauce for pasta tonight. If you could take care of the noodles, I should be back at around 7. Make sure you feed Devon too, you know how he gets when he can't taste my cooking ;)

Love
Ellie.

He smiled, and proceeded to crumple up the piece of paper. As he went to check if they still had noodles, he glanced at the clock. It was only 4 P.M. That left him with two and a half hours of game time before he had to worry about finishing Ellie's meal. So he retreated to the confines of his room and booted up his Xbox.

Time was lost to Chuck. What felt like 15 minutes of playing turned out to be two hours of constant gaming. Chuck was pleased with Gears of War. Hell, he was very pleased. Cliff could look forward to another raving review.

He stood up to open up Word and get an outline for his review done. After he finished his outline, he stood up, and stretched his body, before scratching in his belly button area. He instantly felt twenty years older. To chase that thought away, he decided it was time for the Great Big Hunt of the Noodles. He had just opened up the first cupboard, when Devon came in. He looked apologetic.

"Hey bro, I just wanted to say I was sorry about today at the office."

"Thanks Devon, it's okay though. You were trying to make me feel better and I really do appreciate it man. So, no harm done."

"Oh, I wasn't apologizing for that. I was apologizing for not pressing you more on the issue. Don't you worry though, Chuckster. We'll get right back to that topic after dinner." Devon grinned.

"Can't wait, Devon." Chuck added sarcastically. He turned around to continue his quest for pasta.

"Devon, Chuck, you guys here?" Ellie chimed as she walked into her apartment. She heard the telltale signs of water boiling so that at least answered one of her questions. The more pressing one, was the fact that Devon had called her to tell her they needed to stage an intervention on Chuck. She thought that was a bit much, but after hearing the story from Devon, she agreed that action needed to be taken.

Ellie was privy to the combustion of Chuck after Stanford. It was messy. And it was a paradox. Here, she had taken a vow to preserve human life, and do her best to save everyone. And yet, she had harbored a killing rage against Jill. She wouldn't really kill Jill… At least, she liked to think she wouldn't. Still, you didn't mess with her little brother. That was just not done. And Jill did. As did that piece of shit, Bryce Larkin. And for that, they were dead to her.

"Right here, Sis. Just finishing the pasta, and we're ready." Came Chuck's reply from the kitchen.

"Great, let me change quickly, and we can go nuts." Ellie called, as she walked towards her bedroom.

"Don't you mean, go pasta?" Chuck asked. He started chuckling at his own joke, then repeated the words to himself. At which point he started groaning at how utterly unfunny it was. "Sorry 'bout that one, sis."

Devon laughed. "Oh, wow, Chuckster, I've heard a lot of bad jokes. But that one takes the cake."

"Yeah, sorry. I don't even know why I said it. Not my proudest moment, and let's leave it at that."

Dinner went swimmingly. As was the usual, ever since her 16th birthday, Ellie rocked dinner. Chuck had an uneasy feeling throughout it though, as Ellie and Devon kept looking at Chuck, then lean together to whisper several things. Still, his face remained stoic and after dinner, he hoped his eagerness to clean the table didn't seem too forced.

When he walked back into the living room, he saw that Morgan had decided to join the fun. They were all huddled together and speaking in hushed voices. When Chuck cleared his throat, they all turned towards him.

"This is the part where you all go: "Chuck, we need to have a talk." Isn't it?" he asked.

Devon walked up to him, and put his arm on Chuck's shoulder. "Listen Bro, we need to talk about what happened today. Look, what happened three years ago, was terrible. We get that. To be crushed like that is disgusting. But it's time to move on. It's time to once again, become the man that you were before this entire crapfest started. And trust me dude, I've got it on good authority that Sarah's pretty damn interested."

Chuck scoffed. "Sorry Devon, I think your knowledge about women ends with Ellie. Look, I told you guys once already. She's not flirting with me. I'm sure it looks like that to you, but here's what I see. Now pay attention, because I'm not going to repeat myself. Sarah is just looking for a friend. How would she not already be taken. She could walk into a bar, snap with her fingers and have all the straight males there, taken or not, eating out of her hands. Now, I'm glad to see that you still think highly of me, really, I do. But the sad fact is that Jill destroyed the old Chuck. And the more I think about it, the more I realize she's right. I am a screw-up. I didn't even get my Stanford degree. Mom and Dad left because they saw how much I was failing in my life and… OW!"

During his self deprecating speech, Ellie had appeared as by magic behind him, and slapped him on the back of his head. Chuck couldn't help but draw parallels to Goku and his Instant Teleportation move. He was impressed.

"What the hell was that for, Ellie?"

Ellie was livid. Her face was crunched up in anger, and tears were pooling in her eyes. "Don't you ever! Don't you dare even think those thoughts ever again Chuck. I swear, I'm this close to smashing you over the head with a frying pan. God, I will fucking kill Jill."

Chuck was appalled. He'd never heard Ellie come even close to using a curse word. This, more than anything, told him how on edge she was.

"Jill betrayed you, because she's a cold-hearted bitch. Bryce betrayed you because he was an arrogant piece of shit. Mom and Dad left because they were selfish enough to put their own needs in front of their children. But here you are, surrounded by people that know you, and love you. How are you so blind, Chuck? Is it that hard for you to believe that you are one of the most amazing people in this entire world? And as a result, you can't even see when a girl is interested in you. Devon told me all about your encounters with Sarah. Chuck, I swear, if you don't ask her out, I will punch you out, drag you to her myself, and ask her out using ventriloquism."

Chuck was equal parts amused, excited and horrified. Horrified, because he knew that it wasn't an idle threat. When Ellie Bartowski wanted something, she got it. It was amazing that she possessed the ability to do so, but that wasn't really working out for him if she was to actually go through with her plan. Then there was the amused, because say what you want, but he'd pay to see Ellie pull that one off. And then there was the excited part. Because there was that little ember of hope again. That Sarah might actually want to have to do something with him. Still, he remained skeptical.

"That's all well and good guys. But I'm not about to put myself out there again, and risk getting stabbed in the back again. Or in this case, getting flat out denied. You're going to have to come with something better than "

"Devon," Ellie hissed. "do it. Just tell him, so he'll realize what's going on, and we can actually see Chuck happy again since '05."

"Babe, I promised her not to. She'll have my guts for garters if I break my promise. You've not seen her get angry yet. She'll freaking blow your head off."

"Devon, I swear to God, you tell him, or I'll make you tell him."

Devon swallowed roughly. So maybe he was afraid of two women in his life instead of just Sarah. So he swallowed his trepidation, and walked up to Chuck. He put his hand on Chuck's shoulder, and nudged forward. "The reason we're so sure that you should ask her out," he whispered, "is because she told me she wanted you to."

Chuck's head was spinning. Surely, he misheard? His mind corrected himself though. You didn't mishear anything… And don't call me Shirley.

"Umm… That's quite interesting, Devon. Are you… Um… Are you sure?"

"Listen, Chuck. This can never, ever get back to Sarah! If she asks, just say that you finally spotted the signs, apologize for not recognizing them before, and see where it takes you. Under no circumstance are you to ever mention this talk to her. Yeah, I told her I'd talk to you, but she thinks I'm only nudging you here, not that you'd have to have three people spell it out for you." Devon said. Then he raised his hands up. "But dude, you're going out with Sarah Walker. That's awesome, bro. Up top!"

Dazed, Chuck slapped Devon's hands. The full weight of his words hit him like a cargo plane. Sarah wanted him to make a move. Sarah… wanted… him? He wasn't even surprised when his mind went blissfully blank.

Okay, so maybe the pain in his head was annoying, but who cared. He certainly didn't. He'd always entertained the thought of maybe getting something more with Sarah, but was perfectly content with simply being a conversation partner. When he finally woke up from his small impromptu nap, Devon told him the story of how Sarah had pretty much shot down the male population in Los Angeles, simply because she was waiting for him to make a move.

"But why? I'm just… me." He'd argued.

"Exactly Bro. She told me that she'd been dying to at least get to know you better ever since you smiled at her. Now, don't take this the wrong way Bro, but I'm glad you and Ellie are siblings. If you'd smile at her like I've seen you do at Sarah, I'd have lost her to you in a heartbeat."

"Devon… That's disgusting. If you don't mind, I'm going to go online now, and look for a retailer that sells brain bleach."

Devon clapped him on the shoulder. "Before you do that though, how about you think on how you're going to be popping the question."

Chuck's face turned grim, and Devon realized that, that might not have been the smartest thing to say. Luckily, Ellie came in with the save.

"What my fiancé meant to say was: Why don't you go and relax. Get yourself back in the dating game. If what I hear from Devon's any indication, you'll be landing quite a catch, very soon. You deserve it little brother, and don't you ever think otherwise." She kissed Chuck on the forehead and added: "And don't you ever for a second think that what happened to you was in any way your fault. If anything, you're too good for this world."

"Thanks Sis, I love you too."

So all in all, today wasn't that bad. He'd won all of his discussions with Morgan. He didn't get another rant from Graham. Dinner turned out fine. He was sure he was forgetting something though. Oh yeah, the most perfect creature to have ever been dropped on this mortal coil had rebuffed a ridiculous amount of men, cause she wanted him. Yeah, work that one out. There was one thing that Chuck knew for sure though. Sleep would be hard to come by. So he simply shrugged, and turned on his Xbox.

Finally, his alarm clock decided to stop torturing him and display the time he was begging for since last night. 7 a.m. Another day at work. Except there was a definite silver lining. God, he hoped that this wasn't some cruel way to try and boost his self-esteem. His self-esteem was fine thank you very much. Just cause he was the only one who could see what a complete failure he was. Well, he wasn't the only one. There was Jill, Bryce… Oh, let's not forget his parents. But he hadn't even finished the thought or Ellie's voice burst into his brain, chiding him for thinking like that. He let out an involuntary smile at the thought. Which neatly segued in what was going to be the highlight of the day. Either Sarah would accept, or blow him off. Either option was going to bring about a buzz in the office. He could see the headlines now: "Sarah Walker dates Chuck Bartowski; The Beauty and the Nerd." Either that or: "DESTROYED! Sarah Walker deals another blow to the fragile psyche of Chuck Bartowski."

After a shower, a shave, some cologne and getting into his business suit, he was finally ready to approach the one they call Goddess. She was also known as Sarah Walker, but that was neither here nor there. But the closer he got to his final destination (which, he mused, was a terrible series) the more he was rethinking this entire thing. It simply wasn't possible. He crunched the numbers. Three times. One in a quintillion damn it. He'd always been a fan of quantum physics, and the theories it brought. He was reminded to the alternate dimension theory. For every possibility in the universe, there existed a different dimension. He had to hope that he was in the one dimension in which she would say yes. He decided that he really hated quantum physics at that point.

Finally, the torturous ride was over. He unbuckled his seatbelt, and stepped out of his car. As he closed the car, he still had to use the keys to lock the car, his heart started to thump at the speed of George Kollias's drumming. Every step he put, seemed to take a decade to complete. It was like someone had turned on the perpetual slow-motion mode in the Matrix. His breathing shallowed, and a layer of sweat started appearing on his forehead. Chuck Bartowski was officially panicking. Still, he trudged on. He had no choice. He had to know, if only to preserve his sanity. And he figured that after the inevitable rejection, he could sulk, play the I-told-you-so card, and lock himself in his room with Gears of War. Oh, and he could guilt-trip Ellie into cooking for him for a whole month. No more take out for him!

He walked through the glass doors. Rebecca was sat in her usual position. "Hey Mr. Bartowski. How are you? Are you okay? You look a bit pale." Oh God, she's perky. Chuck thought.

"mfine." He muffled.

"Mr. Bartowski, please, you're looking really ill. Can I get you something? An aspirin maybe? Glass of water?"

Chuck actually did feel like running to the bathroom stalls and vomiting for the rest of the day. It'd give him a great excuse to dodge this whole train wreck. But, he made a promise to Ellie, and as usual, Chuck didn't break promises. Oh, how he wished he wasn't so damn noble. So he took a deep breath and turned to Rebecca. "Thanks for your concern, Rebecca. I'm feeling a bit under the weather, but that's mostly cause I'm about to have a conversation that, for all intents and purposes, I was shanghaied into. So, I just have to get it over with, and I'll be feeling fine. I promise."

"Alright Mr. Bartowski. Just let me know if you need anything. Anything at all" she added suggestively. Chuck shuddered. He hoped that she would pass it off as a reaction to him feeling ill. Why couldn't Sarah be more suggestive like that? It would solve so much problems. Fair enough, it wouldn't solve the true world issues, like world hunger, HIV or become a cure for cancer. But it'd be pretty damn close in his book.

He psyched himself up one more time and walked into the office. He'd learned the way to Sarah's cubicle by heart, and was staring at her back before he knew it. He did the only thing he knew how to do without failing miserably and cleared his throat.

Sarah swiveled around, and was looking at Chuck. She imagined he was either about to become violently ill, or he'd fallen face first in flour. She didn't put either option past him. "Oh hey Chuck. You're looking a bit pale there. You okay?"

…

Chuck was freaking out. This wasn't at all going according to his plan. Damn it, say something. Sarah, do you want to go out some day? Out loud, moron, out loud!

"Chuck, you're looking awfully pale, you should really go back home. It's obvious that you're not feeling well." Sarah stood up to push Chuck back to his car.

Finally he blurted out: "Sarah, do you want to go out with me… On a… date?"

He had closed his eyes when he reached the word date. Slowly he opened his eyes to see the damage he caused. He was looking straight in the face of a scowling Sarah.

He really didn't think this one through.

A/N 2: Right, most, if not all reviews so far have been overwhelmingly positive, and I thank you all for them. It really does make me happy to see that I can actually entertain people. Now, as people have rightfully noted, there's a lot of fluff. That's true. However, I will be steering this story towards a more action-oriented structure somewhere down the road. Of course, we'll still have the Charah fluff, so not to worry about that. Just wanted to let you know that this wouldn't be 100% fluff. I'd say the current percentage would lie around the 60/40 mark for fluff and action. Some people might think that I'm moving ridiculously fast with them getting together. True, but I promise you I won't have Chuck propose within 8 chapters. I'll try and space it out a bit more than the TV series (e.g: Dancing around each other for 2.5 seasons, then having him draw up a proposal plan not 7 episodes later.)

Also, yes, I did write this chapter within 24 hours. I just don't think I can keep up with that kind of speed, as my imagination can only pull me so far. Luckily, I've gotten Chapter 3 planned out for at least another 1/2K words already, so I'm expecting that I should knock that chapter out definitely within 7 days, and if inspiration hits me earlier (which it'll probably do) I'm shooting for 3/4 days max.