A/N: Wait...is it THAT ep? Canon...ISH
Disclaimer: We own nothing.
The bell on the Wienerlicious door jingled and she looked up, a smile coming to her face. "Hey, Chuck." She had seen him just hours earlier, after a stakeout mission had been a bust. It had just been the two of them, Casey had been following a different lead. An arms dealer had been spotted in LA, and it was all hands on deck to try and find him. There had been multiple reported sightings of the dealer and they had been pulled into the stakeout, since they were in the area. Their job: watch, don't act. Since Chuck couldn't be left alone with no one watching him for that long, it was decided he would go with Sarah and play it off as a cover date. Chuck had brought a mix CD and of course, Michael Bolton was on there again, earning him an eye roll. She had to admit, stakeouts with Chuck were much better than they'd been with anyone else.
"Are you as tired as I am?" he asked, yawning and sitting at the counter. He raised his eyebrows and barely nodded his head toward the back room. She gave a slight head nod to let him know Scooter was back there.
"What happened to pulling an all nighter in college...or playing a video game?" she asked with a smirk.
"Oh, I can do that just fine, missy," he replied, getting a look for the missy comment. "But I'm still tired the next day, and you keep harping on me not to drink my energy drinks. You're kinda turning into a nagging girlfriend."
She leaned across the counter and looked him right in the eye. "You like it," she shot back, grinning. She knew she probably shouldn't but they both knew how far they could go...at least she did. He returned her grin. "Want lunch?"
"Sure, surprise me," he said. She got the freshest corndog and fries and placed them in front of him. "Wow, I am special. You gave me a fresh outta the oil one." He leaned in to conspiratorially whisper. "Scooter won't like that."
She leaned in to where their noses were just an inch apart. "I don't care."
Chuck smiled and sat back. He took a bite, and nodded. "Not bad, Sarah, not bad."
"Thank you," she chirped and turned back to her fryers. It was a good day, she hadn't burned corndogs all day, and—
"Baaaby, I-I want to be, your soul provider, a-and I-I wanna stay that way, for the longest time. Baaby, I-I want to be, your soul provider. Just say you'll let me, and darlin' I-I will."
Sarah froze just a bit, then got hold of herself again and sent him a bit of a roll of her eyes over her shoulder. His nose wrinkled mischievously even as he focused on his corndog, as if he knew she was giving him a look.
He chomped on his corndog and chewed, so she turned back again. She had to admit, when he wasn't doing that teasing singing he'd done in the car every so often, he had a nice voice. Warm, smooth…like silk or honey or something. She was glad he'd stopped and seemed to be focusing on eating. And then he kept going.
"I know you've been hurt, I know you're love shy…
You don't have to say it, baby, it's gonna take some time."
She slowly turned toward him, her jaw slack, and the humor was in his face. He was playing with fire here and he knew it.
"Ya got my heart in the palm of your hand. Swear it's gonna stay there, baby, give me half a chance…"
He stopped as she stared at him, and he stared back, his brown eyes glinting wickedly. "Hey, Sarah."
"What, weirdo?" she asked, trying to play along as best she could even though that look in his eyes and the honey in his voice had unsettled something in her in a really good way.
"Your corndogs are burning."
She wanted to bury her head in the fryer with that one. She spun around to yank them up. She got them, took a deep breath, and turned back toward him, but Chuck was staring at his phone, terrified. "Chuck?"
"Ellie," he barely got out. Panic was all over her face. "She and Awesome. Want to go out. On a double date. Sushi."
"Oh. Okay, no big deal," Sarah replied. "We could say no."
Chuck snorted, then looked at her and narrowed his eyes. "Oh, you're serious. You actually believe that."
Sarah giggled. "Chuck, what's the big deal? We've double-dated before."
"Sarah, the dates have been in a controlled environment, at the house, with the TV or a movie on, or Morgan is there to distract them. I'm gonna blow it." His eyes widened. "Sarah, for the love of God, it's sushi!"
She studied him for a second. She could tell Chuck knew he was on panic level ten, but he didn't care. She knew him, and she knew that this was big. "Okay," she said, taking his hand and leading him to the store room. They got inside and she grabbed him by the shoulders peering into his eyes. "Chuck, you can do this, just be calm. This is easy. Here is what we did. We went to a movie, we had a few snacks, went back to my place, and we talked about my job."
"No," Chuck replied. She gave him a look with a raised eyebrow. "No, no, no," he hurried out and she couldn't help the amused look she gave him. "We can't have talked about your job, it has to be something else. Ellie already gave me the whatfor last time about it."
"Stanford?" she asked. "Or college in general? Maybe thinking about finishing your degree?"
"Do you think I should?"
"I mean, what could it hurt?" she replied with a shrug. "Do you want me to help you look into it sometime?"
Chuck stared at her. "You'd do that?"
"Chuck," she said, giving him a look. "Why wouldn't I?" He grinned at her. "Okay let's go through it from the top, you ready?"
"Maybe we're in over our heads," he replied, worry in his tone.
"It's time," she said, staring into his eyes. Was she trying to give him confidence?
"Sure it's not too dangerous? That story...college, she might….you know….go all Ellie."
"I'll be an inch away."
"I'm scared," he admitted.
She squeezed his hand. "Let's go over it again," she said in a voice that she hoped made him feel reassurance. She thought he was starting to feel okay about this. "Make sure we have our bases covered."
He started to speak but it all seemed to overwhelm him. "God, who'd thought going out to sushi with my sister and her boyfriend would make me so freaked?" He turned to face away from her.
"Okay. Last night we saw a movie."
He turned toward her again and pointed a finger. He didn't realize that wasn't smart to do to her, but she let it go because he was trying to get into the zone. "What was my snack of choice?"
"Pfft, easy. You sprinkle milk duds over your popcorn," she replied with a grin. She didn't care that he knew what she was doing, and she didn't feel bad at all about turning it into a game. "Player's choice," she said, making Chuck raise his eyebrows. "What was I wearing?"
"Blue top, little buttons," he replied automatically.
She was a little taken aback. "Oh, you like that one?"
"I like all of 'em," he replied, getting a soft smile from her. "It makes your eyes pop… Is that a thing, I think it is a thing." She grinned at him spiraling. "Ah! I know, spiraling. What movie were we watching?"
"Resident Evil, something, something?"
"That will work, but you don't know the plot."
"Hot girl kicked zombie ass," Sarah replied with a bounce of the shoulder.
Chuck thought for a second. "You're not wrong," he admitted. "Now—"
They were cut off with the door handle being rattled. "Why is this door locked?" they heard Scooter mutter.
Chuck glanced at Sarah as she began to adjust her clothes. "What are you doing?" he got out before she yanked him down to the floor and attacked his neck with her lips. The door opened and Scooter towered over them.
"Wow! Girl on top. Nice, Chuck," Scooter said, rolling his eyes. "Ms. Walker, when Herr Wienerlicious signs your paycheck, I doubt he's factoring in make-out breaks with your Boy-Toy." Scooter walked off.
"I'm sorry," Sarah said to Chuck who was grinning like an idiot. She began to rebutton her top. "I had to act fast."
"Can I get my name changed to that on my driver's license?" Chuck asked. She stopped what she was doing and stared at him. "Sarah Walker's Boy-Toy." She shook her head, got up, pulled him up, and shoved him out of the storage closet, both of them grinning.
"Bye, Sarah," he said, heading out the door.
"Bye, Boy-Toy," she replied. She turned to see Scooter staring at her and she glared at him. "Not a word."
}o{
Chuck was having trouble concentrating at work, thinking about the big double date later that evening.
The bell on his desk rang twice, pulling him out of his thoughts.
"Hi," he said to the tiny brunette woman who appeared quite flustered.
"I keep pressing the button and nothing's happening," she said, gesticulating with the phone with each syllable.
Chuck had seen this before, she was seconds from a full-on freak out. But he also knew the normal phone problems that cause said freakout. "Is it fully charged? 'Cause sometimes this model—" He began reaching toward the phone.
She jerked it away, her eyes intense. "My entire life is in this thing. Okay? I got names, places, dates, times, music, photos, recipes."
Chuck was a little taken aback at the amount of intensity coming out of her. "Wow, uh, you-you cook, too?"
She glanced down, a worried look crossing her features. "What if I lose everything?" She paused, and then turned to go. "You know, I can't start from scratch. I can't be the person that I was before this thing came along." She spun back, waving the phone in the air. Chuck had come around the corner ready to chase after her. "Okay, I'm freaking out!"
Chuck used his most calming voice and smile. He had dealt with many panicked customers in the past, but she was just the most intense ball of passion about her phone he had ever seen. "Listen to me, uh…"
"Lou."
"Lou? Really?" That had thrown him. "Lou, I wouldn't put…" He stopped and realized she needed reassuring. "This is kind of my world, you know? This is what... This is what I do, and I-I do it pretty good, so…" he paused and gave her his most trusting smile. "Trust me."
She seemed a little more at peace and after two tries, gave him the phone. "Okay." She put the phone in Chuck's hand. "I know I'm totally freaking out. I'm sorry. It's just...a little overwhelming to even consider…"
"No, no, no, no, no. Don't go there. Come back. Go to a happy place. Is there something that you think about that quiets the voices that are in your head?"
She closed her eyes and a smile spread across her face. "Turkey." Chuck's eyebrows raised slightly. "Muenster cheese. Egg bread. Grilled."
"Was that a, was that a sandwich?"
"Yeah, they're my passion."
"Uh, that…" he was a bit blown away. "Sounds pretty delicious."
"I own a deli in the mall and I often think about meats and cheeses," she explained.
A woman after his and Morgan's own heart. "Ah, yes. Who doesn't?" She gave him a huge smile, finally seeming comfortable. "Look, I-I, uh, I promise you that if you come back tomorrow, your phone will be all fixed up and good to go. Okay?"
"Really?" she asked, relief evident on her face.
"Yeah."
"Thank you. So much. It's been nice talking with you, Chuck," she said, glancing at his name badge to get his name, and then turning and leaving.
"Yeah, you too, Lou," he said, happy she was calmed down. Oh God. He had just rhymed her name. "That rhymed. I-I-I didn't actually mean for that to rhyme."
"It's okay," she chirped.
"Okay," he replied, knowing he had sounded like an absolute idiot.
Morgan walked across his field of vision. "Mind-cheater," he said in a sing-songy voice. "I saw you."
"Saw me what?" Chuck asked, not sure what was going on.
"Saw you what? Dude, are you kidding me? Mind-cheating on the trusty meatball marinara with the broken phone girl. And why wouldn't you? The sandwich she described….I wanna chew on it 'til I make myself sick." He looked at Chuck. "But you, well, gee whiz, Chuck, you said there was no better sandwich."
"What? What the hell are you talking about?"
"Name Sarah ring a bell? Beautiful blonde, attended A Night of Morgan? We discussed the best sandwiches?"
"I don't believe—"
Morgan pulled out his phone and hit play. "You just can't do better than a meatball marinara sub," Chuck's voice said. "I know it's a classic, and kinda simple, but it's just the best." Morgan cut off the recording and just stared at Chuck.
Chuck looked away. "I didn't actually tell her the one she described was better."
Morgan shook his head. "You know, just because you didn't actually say how you felt about that sub doesn't mean you didn't want to. Think about that. Mind-cheater." Morgan tried to poke at Chuck's belly.
"Don't," Chuck replied, slapping his hand away.
"Saw yoooou," Morgan said in a sing-songy voice. "Another Night of Morgan with my best bud Sar soon?"
"Get. You know she hates that and Harry's coming," Chuck warned. Chuck watched Morgan run away and suddenly realized he was quite hungry.
}o{
Sarah fixed her jacket a little as she moved to knock on the apartment door. She wasn't ready for this by any means, but worse than that, she was pretty sure Chuck was even more...not ready.
It was supposed to be an easy thing. A double date with his sister and her boyfriend. But she thought Chuck had a tendency to overthink everything. And especially if it involved his sister.
And now he had her a little nervous, damn it. Though maybe it was less about Chuck making her nervous. Instead, she wondered if the butterflies were more about the fact that she still hadn't given Chuck much to work off of, he had almost no information about her. Almost nothing since they played that embarrassing game a few weeks ago. Maybe they should've gone over more than what they did at the movies. Maybe she should've made a dossier of fake Sarah before this. That would've made them both feel so much better about this double date.
Or maybe she was letting Chuck get to her.
Before her knuckles could make contact with the door, it was ripped open and Chuck hurried outside to join her, shutting it behind him. She stepped back, eyes wide. "Uh, hi there. I was actually trying to get in, not get you out."
He ignored her. "I saw you through my bedroom window and thought I'd intercept you before Ellie and Awesome know you're here."
"Why? Did something happen? Anything wrong?" she asked, widening her eyes, fixing her purse over her shoulder.
"No. No, no. Everything is fine except that I'm freaking out. Awesome offered for us all to go in their car. Together, Sarah," he hissed, slamming his hands together between them. She jumped a bit at the suddenness of it and looked down at his hands, then up at him.
"Uh. Okay, well...That's okay, right? Saves gas."
"Sarah!" He gave her a look that was so frustrated that she almost laughed. He probably wouldn't appreciate that. "Carpooling with them means a whole twenty to twenty-five minutes being trapped in the car with them. No escape. You can't excuse yourself to go to the bathroom when we're all in a car. You actually have to answer questions."
She bit her lip and quashed her amusement, trying to keep it from showing on her face. And then she put her hands on his biceps. "Chuck, just answer questions normally, right? And then I'll follow your lead."
He blinked. "What?"
"Answer their questions. I'll just adjust, follow your lead." She shrugged. "That's kind of what I do all the time. I've got it."
Chuck furrowed his brow and looked around, then looked down. "Oh. You just made it sound...kind of easy."
"You're welcome."
He smiled a little, then his face turned self-deprecating. "Sorry. I've had a few hours to work myself up. Maybe."
"It's okay. I get it. Just...act the way you always do around them. It's not like you are gonna scare me away."
Chuck snorted. "Good point. You're sort of stuck, aren't ya?" The big cheesy grin made her smirk. "Come to think of it, this isn't such a bad situation—Ah! Ow!" He cowered and laughed as she smacked his arm.
And as he caught her by her wrist, the door beside them opened. They both turned to see Ellie standing there, surprised. "Oh! Sarah's here!" Then she looked back and forth between them. "Uh, ahem. Sorry."
The implication was clear. He'd come out here to kiss her out of view from his sister.
Chuck blushed. "Uh…"
"Come in!" Ellie rushed out, rescuing him from the fire she'd sort of dropped him into. It was a pretty interesting dichotomy, Sarah thought.
They went into the entryway as Devon came out of the hallway, car keys in hand. "Anybody in the mood to pre-game? I've got vodka for shots!"
Sarah tilted her head. "Probably not. But thank you, Devon."
"You got it, Sarah. Let's get a move on, then."
Ellie slung her arm through Sarah's then. "Hope you don't mind. The three of us sort of decided we'd all go in Devon's car. So we can chat."
She shook her head. She didn't mind, but Chuck had nearly had a panic attack about it.
Devon slung his arm over Chuck's shoulders and tugged him in tight, the latter sending a look over his shoulder at Sarah as if checking to see if she was okay, or maybe he was looking for reassurance...she couldn't tell.
"Let's get some SOOOSH!" Devon yelled as they walked through the gate.
This was...probably going to be a long night.
}o{
Chuck had seemed relieved when they were forced to sit at the bar instead of at a table. Probably because it made conversation a little harder.
The questioning he'd been so worried about hadn't actually happened in the car. Instead, Ellie had asked Sarah about the Weinerlicious, which she'd used as an opportunity to rant about Scooter and the customers and the outfit for almost the entirety of the ride.
Chuck had sent her the most grateful look ever, and the hand holding they'd done for the cover as they sat in the backseat had afforded him the opportunity to squeeze her hand in thanks.
And now she had some sake and she was set.
Prepared.
For whatever Ellie and Devon threw at her and Chuck.
"So do you guys come here often?" she asked, looking at the couple to her right. She dipped a California roll in her soy sauce and wasabi mixture and put it in her mouth.
"Only for special occasions," Devon said, lifting his cup of sake. "Like thiiis, huuuh?"
Everyone followed suit and did a small cheers, before sipping their drinks. As Devon threw an arm over the back of Ellie's chair, Sarah saw Chuck follow suit. She leaned back against his arm and smiled at him as his hand landed on her shoulder and squeezed.
"It's been a while since I've had good sushi," Sarah admitted. "So I'm gonna be honest, I have no idea what to choose here. The California rolls are really good, though."
"Oh. Hey. Don't worry, I got this." She turned to look at Chuck as he smiled. The way he raised his eyebrows, he was seeming to ask her if she trusted him. She gave him a small head nod and he cleared his throat just as their own personal itamae swung back towards them to take more orders. "So the spicy tuna roll, please. Annnnnd we're gonna do the dragon roll as well." He glanced at Sarah. "We can share that one. You'll like that one. Umm…" He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. "Oh! And also—And also, a…" He paused looking at Sarah for approval. And yet there was a confidence in the way he was ordering, as though he genuinely knew exactly what she'd want. "A crab hand roll for my lady. Light wasabi. But, like, light light...almost as if you just washed your hands in the residue of previous orders' remains."
When he sent her a proud look, she smiled back and nodded. He'd just done a pretty damn good job, she had to admit. And his insistence on the light wasabi was honestly cute. He must've noticed how she painstakingly made sure not to get too much wasabi to mix with her soy sauce, picking some of it away and storing it at the side of her little dish. Or he was just particular about his own wasabi. She liked to imagine it was the former. Chuck had a habit of paying attention.
In a way no one else ever had. It was why she didn't feel like this double date would be as bad as he thought it'd be.
"Didn't realize how old-fashioned you were, Chuck." Devon winked.
"Why?" Chuck challenged, seemingly sitting up a bit straighter after her approval. "Because I was ordering food for my girl? I guess I just know what she likes."
She spun back to look at him when he said 'my girl' and watched as his confidence level rose even more. She played off of it, sending him a flirty look. "You sure do." She grinned and leaned in to bump him with her shoulder affectionately. "Thanks, sweetie."
"You're welcome...sweetie." He blushed at that, the pet name sounding pained as it came out of his mouth. He really needed to work on that. But he was doing really well. And this seriously was almost fun and not bad at all.
"No, no. Old-fashioned as in how slow you guys are taking things." Devon munched on edamame as if he'd just mentioned how chilly it was outside instead of commenting on the pace of their sex life.
"DEVON." Ellie's eyes nearly popped out of her head and she spun to look at him like he'd just grown a few extra heads.
"What?!" Sarah couldn't help exclaiming, even as she plastered a big, beaming smile on her face, even letting out a breathless giggle. She felt Chuck tense beside her, the silence coming from him deafening. She didn't feel like she should look at his face at the moment.
And she watched as Ellie's hand disappeared until the table and jammed her elbow into her boyfriend, making him jerk. But other than that, he ignored the pointed jab and kept munching. "You two spend a helluva lotta time together, practically joined at the hip, but that's, uh, not where you're s'posed to be joined."
Ellie slowly turned away from her boyfriend to look at Sarah, like a horror film slow-turn, eyes wide, painstakingly pulling edamame out of her mouth in a long string and dropping it onto her plate. The look she gave Sarah was very clearly I do not endorse this. I am so sorry. Please don't break up with my brother.
And to think just a minute earlier, she'd cockily thought about how easy this night was so far.
"It's like, uh, the east wing of our apartment took a vow of celibacy," Devon apparently felt the need to continue.
"Honey, I'm going to choke you with your stethoscope," Ellie murmured through her teeth, before turning back to send Sarah the most apologetic look ever. And then she turned it to Chuck.
All Sarah could do was laugh in disbelief, trying not to look offended. She finally glanced at her cover boyfriend and saw that he was merely staring at Devon with the most pained look ever. As if he was silently asking him why in the hell he was doing this to him. She felt terrible for him.
"I feel like—" Ellie elbowed him again. "What? It's not anything to be ashamed of. You two are just so cozy during movie nights, ya know? And—ow! Stop jabbing me with your pointy elbows, babe. You two were totally making out when Sarah first got here. I'm just wondering."
"It's because it's none! of! our! business!" Ellie groused.
"They say that oysters are an aphrodisiac, though. We can get some o' those." Devon chuckled, shoving a whole pea pod in his mouth.
"Are you drunk?" Ellie asked him in a flat voice. "Say one more rude thing and I'll make sure the west wing in the apartment is the celibate one."
"I'm just teasin' 'em, come onnnn." He reached over and good-naturedly patted Sarah on the shoulder. Sarah giggled and shook her head at him. "I like watching Chuck turn magenta. Through that whole thing, you looked like you'd just had a whole spoonful of wasabi, bro. But I'll stop," he chuckled, holding his hands up in surrender. "Play time's over."
"I'll say…" Ellie murmured, widening her eyes apologetically at Sarah again. "Who wants some edamame, though—oh shit…"
As she desperately grabbed the bowl to pass it to Sarah, she swiped her sleeve against the wasabi and ginger on her own plate.
"Your sleeve," Sarah drawled, immediately grabbing her napkin and dabbing it in her water to help Chuck's sister. She could feel how much Chuck had shrunk with Devon's teasing, and as much as she believed the guy that he was just ribbing them and probably didn't actually know if sex was happening or not, she couldn't help thinking not awesome in his direction.
She swiped at Ellie's elbow and then scrubbed the little spot a bit, until it looked like she'd gotten it.
"God, thank you, Sarah. I'm a wreck."
"Oh, no worries," she chirped back.
"Hey, El, uh...when you retiring that sweater, huh?" Chuck bumped Sarah's arm with his. "She has had that for, like, a decade or more and wears it all the time."
"It's cute," Sarah said, smiling at him first, then at Ellie.
Ellie sent her a happy look.
"Hope she doesn't get rid of it," Devon said, grinning.
"It's my lucky sweater," his girlfriend explained. And Sarah couldn't help wondering if Ellie had worn it tonight on purpose if it really was so lucky. The implications of that were pretty clear to the CIA agent. The lucky sweater might make the night go well and maybe it'd push some of its power onto her brother and his new girlfriend, too. It was sweet if that was the case. And she felt warmth blossom in her chest as she watched the other woman push her sleeves up to hide the wet spot on her elbow.
"More like my lucky sweater. She wore this the first time I met her in an epidemiology class." He slung his arm over Ellie's shoulder and she seemed to naturally just melt back against his chest, looking supremely comfortable there.
"He told me that L.L. Bean must've stolen the color from my eyes so it really belonged to me."
God, that was the worst pick-up line. It was terrible. And even Chuck let out a snort behind her. But the look on Ellie's face, and the tone in her voice, told her that Ellie didn't think it was bad at all. She was happy. And wasn't it kind of precious that she still remembered something like that even after a couple of years?
Devon kissed his girlfriend on the cheek and not for the first time, Sarah realized just how in love the pair was. Genuinely in love. And for how corny and sometimes goofy as Devon was, Ellie was incredibly taken by it, and by him. And she was warmed by it, and maybe—just maybe—she felt a prick of envy. Normal, good people like this were allowed to just fall in love, say corny shit to each other, eat edamame, and not have to worry about what to say or do. To just live and love and…
"Heh...that's...great," Chuck murmured behind her. Sarah turned to him and raised her eyebrows, receiving a slight shrug in return. "I told Sarah my parents were sadists when we first met, didn't I, Sarah?" He chewed and chuckled at the same time.
She bit the inside of her cheek at that. "True. That's true."
"Oh, God. How are you sitting here right now after that?" Ellie asked, sending Chuck an eye roll.
"Uh, because this charming so-and-so then got a bunch of employees to help him make a little ballerina's day," she said warmly, putting her hand on his leg where the other two could see it and leaning into him with a smile. "And!" She turned back to Ellie and Devon, raising her eyebrows. "He walked away from me and my blatant flirting to do it."
"It was not easy," Chuck said, putting his arm around her.
"I don't know about that, but I do know that it was really sweet." She shrugged at Ellie in particular. "I guess I'm a sucker for an altruistic guy."
"You found the right guy then, Sarah. Nobody's more altruistic than our boy Chuck." Devon grinned with abject affection at the younger man and winked.
"I'm really starting to get that, yeah," she admitted. And Chuck really couldn't know just how much she was circumventing the cover. How much she actually meant it. He was sweet. He was altruistic. And there really was something so special about that.
"Hey, now...You're all making me blush."
She reached up to fix a curl from his forehead and giggled at him. More food was placed in front of them, then, and they did more eating than talking from that point forward.
By the time they were leaving the restaurant, laughing after Chuck teased Devon this time about his bottomless stomach, Sarah found she really had enjoyed dinner. And Chuck's choices were top notch. The guy knew his sushi, and she had this odd feeling he knew her tastebuds, too. She wasn't sure how she felt about that.
Ellie turned as they hit the sidewalk and preened up at her boyfriend. "Thank you for dinnerrrr," she drawled, and he wrapped her up in his arms and kissed her solidly.
Oh.
Well…
As the kissing continued, Sarah realized she and Chuck were just standing there awkwardly, side by side, watching. So she turned and wrapped her arms around Chuck's torso, giving him a quick tug against her. "Oh," she heard him mutter, and she felt his arms loosely surround her body. His face was expressionless as he looked away and she felt a stupid amount of shyness as she twisted her lips to the side and diverted her own gaze.
Wasn't it the new couple that was supposed to be all over each other? And here were Chuck's sister and her boyfriend cuddling and making out on the sidewalk in public, while she and Chuck were awkwardly holding one another like two thirteen year olds at a school dance.
They really needed to fix this. They needed to do better with the physical affection. And they needed to make clear that there was physical intimacy here. It had been over a month, almost two months now, and people needed to think this was a regular...normal relationship.
But shit, she needed to tell Chuck that somehow without him collapsing into a heap at her feet.
"Listen, you all wait here. I'll go grab the car and drive up to getcha." Devon pecked Ellie on the lips again, then strolled past them.
When Ellie dropped her gaze to Sarah and Chuck, she inherently held onto him even tighter, smiling at the other woman.
But anything they might've said was cut off by the sound of glass breaking down the sidewalk. Sarah tensed as she looked over Ellie's shoulder. The brunette spun to follow her gaze and they all watched as a man who looked insanely drunk staggered towards them.
But she'd been a spy for too long to know the difference between too much alcohol and a drug. Or a poison.
The man immediately crumbled a few feet from Ellie and the doctor leapt into action. "Sir? Are you okay?" He merely groaned and went limp on the ground. Sarah could tell by Ellie's immediate look of concern that she could also tell this wasn't merely alcohol poisoning. "Can you tell me your name?" But his eyes rolled to the back of his head. "Someone call an ambulance!" she barked over her shoulder, but Chuck already had his phone out, calling 9-1-1.
It only took a few minutes for the ambulance to arrive, and Sarah stayed close to Chuck's side, holding onto his arm with both of hers and watching in concern as Ellie did everything she could to keep the man alive and conscious.
The EMTs got to work, lifting him onto a gurney as Ellie told them she was a doctor and gave them orders. Sarah watched with a small amount of awe as Ellie went into the man's pocket as they wheeled him to the ambulance and tossed his wallet in Chuck's direction with deadly precision.
"Chuck, check for his medical ID."
"Yeah, got-got it," he said as he caught the wallet cleanly and dug through it. "That's—That's my sister, saving that dude's life!"
Sarah had a terrible feeling about this as Ellie climbed into the ambulance with her patient. Why was a poisoned guy hobbling around the LA streets at night? What was going on here?
Chuck pulled a card out and she felt his whole body tense, before a shiver wracked through him. Oh, no…
A flash.
She spun to look at him in worry. "Chuck…?"
He looked sick as the ambulance pulled away and sped to the hospital. "That's my sister, saved that bad dude's life…" This time there was less pride there, and a lot more fear. Shock and fear.
"Chuck," she whispered, turning him towards her. "What did you see?"
But just then Devon pulled up next to them at the curb and staggered out from behind the driver's wheel. "Did Ellie just get into that ambulance? What happened?" he asked, grabbing Chuck by the collar of his jacket.
"She-She was saving a guy...A guy was…" But Chuck wasn't functioning well, it seemed.
"We were waiting for you when this super drunk looking guy came from nowhere and passed out next to us. We called an ambulance and Ellie went with him to the hospital to see what she can do, I think."
"Oh. Shit. Hope the guy's okay. What a way to end the night." He still had some concern in his face, but there was way less of it now that he knew his girlfriend wasn't the one who was hurt. "Well, let's go home. I'm sure she'll be along as soon as she can. No sense in waiting around here."
Sarah guided Chuck to the car.
"No, no. Wait. Let's-Let's go to the hospital. Yeah!" He finally awoke from his stupor. "Yeah, let's do that! Let's...Let's just meet her at the hospital. Maybe we can help."
Devon frowned. "Uh, bro...probably not. He's got a whole med staff that can help him. Ellie can handle it. We'll wait at home."
Chuck looked panicked. When Devon walked around to the other side of the car, Sarah was shocked to find Chuck grabbing her by her arms and pulling her close. "Sarah," he whispered desperately. "That guy's from the Department of Energy...I think he's stolen codes...nuclear codes. Ours."
"What?" she asked.
He thrust the ID card into her hand. "Mason Whitney is a bad guy and my sister is trapped in the back of an ambulance with him right now."
"You two lovebirds comin' or what?"
They both turned to look at Devon, already sitting behind the steering wheel and waving for them to get in. Chuck opened the passenger side door for her to get in, then moved to climb in back.
Devon hummed along with what was on the radio, saying a few words here and there, but Sarah spent the drive eyeing Chuck in the rearview mirror. As the streetlights flashed across his window, bathing his face in light, she saw intense worry there. She was sure Ellie was fine, and would be fine. She was used to this sort of thing; it was her job. She was trained for it. And yet she couldn't really blame Chuck for being freaked out, could she?
When they got back to his apartment, she grabbed onto his hand as they walked through the courtyard.
"I'm gonna just text Ellie and let her know we got home. Great dinner, Sarah. Don't be a stranger, huh?" Devon went in without them as they halted by the fountain.
"G'night," she called after him, and then she turned to Chuck. "It's gonna be fine, okay? Trust me."
"What if it isn't fine? What if he has some kind of nuclear poisoning and he goes full Venom and eats everybody in the hospital, Sarah?"
She gaped at him. "Oookay. I don't know what Venom is, but I'm assuming it eats people and I don't think you need to worry about that, Chuck. But you are really, really worried, I can see. Should I...stay? Just, you know, until she comes back okay?"
He frowned. "You—Um, you wouldn't mind? I'm losing my shit a little bit here."
"I can tell. And hey, no real girlfriend would abandon her guy when he's half-hysterical with worry like this. Let's go in and you can show me one of those comic book movies you talk about all the time. Or a-a video game? Distract yourself."
The look on his face was almost amusing. "I can't tell if you're serious."
"Chuck. C'mon. I'm not offering again."
He huffed, smirked a bit weakly, then nodded and they went in together. Devon was nowhere to be seen, probably in his and Ellie's bedroom, so they walked right through to hole up in Chuck's room.
"You know what? I'm gonna call and just check. Just see if she...maybe she needs us or something. I'll just…" He grabbed his phone out of his pocket.
"Chuck, she probably won't answer if she's in the thick of trying to save that guy's life."
"But just in case!" He already had the phone up to his ear, fidgeting, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. "Hey! Hey, El. It's me, your brother Chuck. Listen, call me. I'm, uh, we're all here just waiting to see if things are okay. So um, even if it's just a text, 'kay? Okay. Love ya."
He hung up and thrust the phone out towards her in a panic. "Sarah, she didn't answer."
"I told you, she isn't going to answer if she's currently attempting to save someone's life, Chuck. Please try not to freak out."
"How?"
She went to his TV and turned it on. "Look, just...put on a game or something. I'm going to send that info to Casey and see if he and Beckman can come up with anything on him. See why someone might've wanted to hurt him."
Chuck nodded. "You're gonna tell me, right? If he's super dangerous?"
"Yes, Chuck…" She pulled her phone out and called Casey, explaining everything and making short work of it, too. Chuck looked to have already died a few times in the game and she thought he was supposed to be good at these things or something. He was out of his mind and it was bad if even she couldn't calm him down.
After the phone call, she just sat next to him, watching him shooting plasma looking things at large robot looking things. How he even saw the things he was supposed to shoot at as quickly as he did…
But then he hit a button to make the screen freeze and he grabbed his phone from his pocket again. "It's been almost an hour and she hasn't called or texted back, Sarah. I'm gonna just...see if…"
Sarah sighed and put a hand on his arm. "Chuck, I know you're worried about your sister, but I don't know if she wants eighteen voicemails in her phone when she finishes up."
"I won't leave a voicemail, I'll just...I'm just calling, that's all." A few moments later, he growled in frustration and hung up the phone. "She didn't answer again."
"Well, just...just keep playing the game, huh? It'll be fine."
Another half hour went by and it seemed like he'd only gone five minutes before he'd tried to call again...and again...and again. Each time, Ellie didn't answer. He even asked her to try with her own phone, and just to keep him from hyperventilating, she complied, trying to give Ellie a call. It went to voicemail and she ended the call. Nothing.
She could tell him again not to worry but she knew it wouldn't do anything. She just had to hope Ellie came back soon.
"Look, Chuck...I'm gonna use the restroom, but maybe play a game you're not so good at. Something challenging. So you have to use your mind for something other than obsessively worrying."
"None of these games are challenging for me, Sarah. Look who you're talking to." That was almost a little cocky and she found herself inwardly smirking at it. "But sure...sure, yeah. Okay. Maybe I'll see if Awesome's heard from Ellie."
She didn't have the patience to tackle that again, so she just shrugged and went to the bathroom.
By the time she was finished, she peeked her head back into his room to find the TV off, the room empty. So she went down the hallway to see that Devon had taken up residence on the stationary bike and was pedaling away like a speed demon, not seeming too worried about anything. And why should he? He knew better than anyone how the job required situations like this.
Chuck was pacing however, his phone clutched in his hand. When he saw her come up, he spun to face her. "Hey! Hey, do you think Ellie's okay? Should I call the hospital again?"
Had he called the hospital? Jesus…
"You've called ten times in the past twenty minutes," she said, giving him a look.
"Yeah, but—I know but what about—what about sweaty nuclear guy?" What now? "What if he hurts her?"
"Come on, Chuck. People saw Ellie climb into that ambulance. What did the hospital say when you called?"
"She came in with the patient, he was in critical condition...uh…"
"See? People saw her at the ER. She's gonna be fine."
Chuck didn't seem all that convinced, but before she could try again, Devon stepped in behind Chuck and popped his earbud out, grinning. "Hey! You spendin' the night?" Chuck turned slowly to face the doctor, gritting his teeth, and Devon put his hands up, mid-drink from his water bottle. "Whoa, I wasn't—wasn't goin' there. Geez, bro. I was just foolin' at dinner. But really, Sarah, you spendin' the night?"
She raised her eyebrows and trapped her lips between her teeth.
"Yyyeaaah, uh...actually, Sarah's just hangin' out 'til Ellie gets home. Y'know, since that was kind of a trying situation and she knows I'm sort of having some struggles. Kind of worried…"
Sarah lifted her gaze to watch Chuck closely, a small smile on her face. Either he was too worried to take Devon's bait and get all huffy, or he was immune to the older man's jabbing suddenly. Either way, the legitimate worry and tiredness in him made her want to wrap him in a warm blanket and bring him tea or coffee or something.
"Why?" Devon asked with a shrug, taking another swig from his bottle. "She's a doctor, Chuck. Emergency's happen, bro. You know when somebody asks 'Is there a doctor in the house?'" He gestured to himself and nodded. "That's our cue."
Sarah could tell Devon was sincerely trying to set Chuck at ease, but if everything she said didn't work, this wouldn't either. "I'm gonna make some coffee," she said, glancing at both of them. "Do you want some?"
"Absolutely," the tall blonde growled excitedly, and she walked away before getting an answer from Chuck. He really didn't have much of a choice. He was going to have to swallow some and maybe she should specifically make decaf for him because he was a little riled up.
But then as she went into the kitchen to turn on the coffee maker, she heard Devon just slightly lower his voice. And of course, she was human. Whenever someone lowered their voice like that, it was impossible not to listen that much harder.
"Listen, bro. I know it's been a while since you've…" He paused and Sarah winced for Chuck's sake. She'd never met people so involved in someone else's sex life as these people were. But then Devon finished his thought. "Taken your bike out for a ride, you know?" Oh dear God, seriously? Sarah couldn't help it. Not even sparing Chuck's pride was worth this. She braced her palm on the counter and slowly turned to look at the two men. "But it is time to oil up that rusty chain...hop on that seat, and start pedalin' away, bro." Her jaw dropped a little as she watched. Devon's back was to her but she could see Chuck's face quite clearly, and he looked as if he either wasn't sure if he was having a stroke or if he just wanted to have a stroke. "You never forget how to ride, huh? Now come on… Lock it out."
Did Devon just have no concept of how loud his voice was? Or did he not care that she could probably hear him super clearly? She didn't know but she turned away to pour the coffee. How many years had Chuck lived with this guy? How had he done it? She felt bad the moment she thought it, but then she couldn't help wondering if that was why it'd been a while since Chuck...hadn't ridden his bike.
She needed to help him. She needed to put this whole conversation to rest and make it so that these people stopped hounding Chuck about it. And anyway, she knew with how much Devon especially couldn't stop obsessing over them not having had sex after a few months of dating, it would start to get really suspicious and explanations would have to be made and…
It was best they just got this out of the way.
Just then she heard the door to the apartment open and Devon's chipper, "Hey! There she is…"
"ELLIE! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!"
She spun and smiled as an extremely tired-looking Ellie Bartowski slowly came into the living room wearing her scrubs, rubbing her back. But then Chuck wrapped her up in a tight, relieved hug, leaving the doctor surprised...confused.
"You're okay. Oh my God, you're fine," Chuck was saying, not even bothering to hide his relief as he squeezed her tight. Ellie's green eyes dropped to give her a prime what the fuck look, awkwardly patting her brother's back. Sarah came over with two cups of coffee, wondering if there was a way to rescue Ellie from this situation.
"You're fine… Of course you're fine, why wouldn't you be fine?" Chuck asked then, stepping back, finally attempting to play it cool. "Why wouldn't she be fine?" He turned to ask Sarah this time and she gave him a wan smile. "What happened?" he asked his sister then.
"We tried everything," she said, and she really looked exhausted, even a little upset. Devon draped his arm over her and squeezed her shoulder. "Nothing worked. I think he was...poisoned…? Or maybe had an allergic reaction to something…? I'm-I'm going to bed, though. Uh, good night. G'night, Sarah." She seemed to only have the energy to smile a little at their guest before she rushed out of the room.
"Good night," Sarah called after her, watching her go for a second as Devon said his goodnights and quickly followed. She wondered if there was some damage control he'd have to do there. She'd lost a patient. And for someone with as big a heart as Ellie's, she wondered if it ever got easier.
"Sleep tight!" Devon said, pointing back at them and winking. GOD.
But once they were alone, Chuck spun to face her, clenching his jaw. "I'm getting way too comfortable lying and sneaking around all this spy stuff," he rushed out. "I'm starting to feel like that is my real life."
Sarah sighed and looked away. "It-It's to be expected, I guess. I mean, it happens with this sort of...situation. It's, um…" An idea struck her and she felt kind of good about it. "It's an existential spy crisis...of sorts." Now that it had come out of her mouth, though, it sounded...really bad.
"It used to be all compartmentalized, you know? Chuck World. Spy World. Two separate worlds. That-That I could keep apart. One here...one over here. But when I watched those ambulance doors close and my sister was behind them with that sweaty nuclear spy bad guy, those two worlds—my worlds collided, Sarah." He surprised her by raising his voice then. "I put Ellie's life in danger! That was me! I did that!"
She made her own voice firm, her face serious. "No, Chuck, that guy was sick with or without the Intersect in your head. And-and Spy World or no, Ellie helped that guy because that is what she is trained. to. do." She gave him a long look and waited for him to respond. And she realized something she hadn't realized until he'd spelled it out for her. Chuck wasn't like her or Casey, or Bryce, or any of the other spies she'd met or worked with in the last decade; he had a family, a sister he loved, a sister he lived with who was right there next to him while he went through all of this. And that meant he had someone in the line of fire. All this time, she hadn't really put that into perspective.
Until tonight, she thought maybe Chuck hadn't really put it into perspective either. For the past hour or so, she'd been frustrated with him, trying to get him to chill the fuck out, but he'd been faced with something serious and real. And she hadn't taken him or his fears as seriously as she should have. She was right, Ellie was doing her job and the Intersect hadn't been what put that guy outside of that restaurant with them. But the danger he'd been put in, countless times at this point, had yet to extend to his sister, her boyfriend, Morgan, anyone at the Buy More. Until tonight, he'd seen it happen first hand. Whether it was connected to the Intersect or not.
Sarah didn't quite know what to say, so she just handed him the coffee mug. "Here. And I'm sorry tonight was rough for you. I'm sorry I used that crappy line just now, too. There's no such thing as an existential spy crisis. The truth is, for most of us, there is no life outside of...this. Spying. I-I don't exactly know why. Maybe because it's safe, or maybe because it's easier." She swallowed thickly and shrugged. "But you're different. And I'm...sorry."
He smiled slowly, a little crookedly, and his eyes got all soft suddenly. And she had to glance away from them. "Hey, s'okay. This is insane for all of us. We're all, uh, learning. Dealing with something super different." She scoffed and raised her eyebrows. "It's okay, Sarah. I'm just glad you were here. I would've gone to the hospital and kicked the door in if you weren't here keeping my head on straight."
She shrugged. "It's what I do."
"I know," he teased, widening his eyes.
Smirking, she shook her head. And then she sobered significantly. Because the other situation was there, like a weight on her shoulders. And they needed to just get this over with so that he didn't have to suffer anymore horrible conversations about bikes and oiling gears and pedaling ever fucking again.
"There's...something else I have to talk to you about," she said, looking down at his hands, the way they cupped the mug, so large his fingers covered the whole thing practically. God, she didn't want to have to do this. Damn it…
He swallowed hard. "What's that?"
As he brought his mug up to sip the coffee, she inwardly winced, but kept her face unmoved, serious...and above all, business-like. "I'm a little worried about our cover," she admitted, slowly meeting his gaze again.
And as he pulled some coffee into his mouth—the timing not occurring to her until after—she said, "I think it's time for us to make love."
The coffee seemed to get stuck in the no man's land between his mouth and his throat and he made a choking sound, finally swallowing as she quickly brought her own mug up to take a long drink of the coffee, turning away a little. She'd let him deal with that one without her looking right at him while he did it. She wasn't sure she wanted to see the myriad of faces she could imagine him making.
He let out a raspy cough, and his strangled voice squeaked out, "Tha's...hot coffee," with another little cough. "S'hot. So hot. The coffee. The coffee is...hot. Nothing else. Nothing else—I'm not referring to anything else. But. The coffee. Did you—You use the, um, scorching setting on the, um, on the coffee maker or just...Maybe I didn't blow on it." He choked again. "I mean, or let it sit. That's—Jesus Christ. Anyway."
As he scratched behind his ear, she took another sip of her coffee. "It's just getting...to the point where they're going to keep pointing it out and asking."
"Mmm...hm. Mmhm. Mhm." He nodded, gulping, not looking at her.
"I mean, do you want to have to come up with a reason why we're...not…"
"Nope."
"...having sex?"
"Oh God, no. Wow." He took a long drink of the coffee. "And that's still actually really hot. So…"
"Are-Are you okay? I know I...really, um...sprung this on you."
"Really? I mean, the vocabulary, Sarah. Are you doing this on purpose?"
"W-What? No. God." She gave him a look that clearly meant shut up. "I'm doing this for you."
"Thanks."
"Stop. Seriously, Chuck. We've been dating for longer than a month, almost two now. It's the twenty-first century. You're not a priest and I'm definitely not a nun."
"What?"
He was getting her tongue-tied now and she was getting pissed about it. "We're just...We're gonna figure it out but we need to make it obvious and then everyone will leave it alone. Okay? And you can stop hearing about bike riding and...pedaling."
Chuck winced. "I'm so sorry you heard that. I don't know what the fuck was happening there."
"It's okay, but…" She shrugged, as if there was really nothing she could do about this.
He sighed and nodded. "Yeah, um...right. Right. So we, um…"
"We can discuss details tomorrow. Okay?"
And as he nodded, she thought about the countless ways that conversation could have gone so much better. And how much easier it would've gone with literally anybody else.
A/N: David is lucky I put up with the Michael Bolton stuff. And I'm lucky he puts up with literally all of my shit. Including my Awesome-isms. It's a match made in Heaven. Hehehehe. - SC
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-SC and DC