A/N: Chuck Versus the Dive continues! Thanks for the patience. Hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own CHUCK or its characters. And I'm not making any money from this story.
When Chuck emerged from the shower, he quietly snuck down the hallway and peeked around the doorframe. He could see Sarah busying herself in the kitchen, her still damp hair from the shower she'd taken before him pulled into a loose braid that dangled down her back.
He wondered if she was still feeling the sting from the mishap earlier, because he knew he was. And maybe he was just too sensitive, but the thought of her being upset for any reason, let alone because of something he'd done, made him want to freaking fix it. Immediately. Make it go away.
She was right, the signs were there.
She'd told him that night he had to use that other guy's clothes, she didn't invite people into her home. Shit, even Gina had said that weeks ago when he'd answered the door to find her standing there on Sarah's porch. She was genuinely shocked to find a man in Sarah's home. It was unheard of. The Shack crew had all seemed surprised that Chuck was invited to their team bonding drinks outing right in the beginning of all of this.
She'd gotten drunk in front of him and she'd told him outright that she'd done it because she trusted him.
Maybe he didn't have to know why. He didn't have to understand what it was she was seeing in him. She saw something even if he couldn't see it.
What did that mean for the longterm? He was terrified to think too hard on that, still. When he woke up tomorrow morning, he'd only have three days left. He just wanted to be able to enjoy every last second of the time he had left here, specifically with Sarah.
He finally emerged from the hallway and slowly made his way up to where she had her back to him, preparing what looked like alcoholic beverages.
"A little hair of the dog?" he asked.
She giggled and looked at him over her shoulder. The smirk died as her eyes widened, her gaze slipping down to his bare feet and back to his face, dragging oh so slowly on the way up. "What's this?" she asked slowly, turning to face him and leaning back against the counter, bracing her palms on the edge.
Chuck cleared his throat, looking down at the fresh grey suit he'd put on after his shower, running his hand over the thankfully not wrinkled black button up, and then he fixed the silk gray tie. "Right, so…I got a little gussied up after my shower, tie and everything because, um…" He scratched the back of his head. "I made a reservation for early dinner at this place in Po'ipū. The tie is because it's like forty bucks a plate."
Sarah's eyebrows popped. "That's…expensive."
"Yeah." He winced. "I'm okay with it, though. I realized I've been here all these weeks and I never went to a crazy expensive luxury restaurant with insanely fancy Hawaiian seafood. Like, that's sort of a…erm, sad thing to go to alone, you know? By myself? Go out to an expensive, romantic restaurant with a view of the ocean, table for one!" He winced again. "Awkward. But see, I've been hanging out with you and there's all this romantic…" She lifted an eyebrow, seeming a little amused. "Well, romance. I mean, we're in a…romantic…" She raised both eyebrows now, as if waiting to see what he was going to say. He fidgeted. "Uh. And still, I never did it. Never took you out someplace fancy and romantic. And, um, I owe you. After sticking my foot practically down my throat earlier."
Kind of like he was doing now? Damn it.
She tilted her head and gave him a flat look. "Oh, Chuck, doooon't," she groaned. "I don't want you taking me to some fancy romantic seafood place that's forty dollars a plate because of what happened earlier. Seriously. It's not necessary. I'm fine."
"No, but that's only part of it. I've been sort of looking for a reason, honestly. It just doesn't seem like…your vibe really." She raised her eyebrows and lowered her chin. "You're, like, this…sexy laidback beach bum who's all connected to the ocean and… is my foot going back in my mouth? Should I shut up?"
"No," she laughed, closing the distance and running her fingers down the lapel of his suit jacket lightly. "First of all, you look pretty good in a suit and tie. I love the no shoes thing you've got going on with it too."
He chuckled. "I wasn't sure if you'd agree to the super fancy thing so I left off the shoes and socks for now, but also, I wasn't sure if you'd feel like I was being patronizing, like I'm pampering you or throwing money at the situation earlier to make you feel better about it. That wasn't my intention. I really just want to take you out to a nice dinner."
Sarah sighed and reached up to play with one of his curls. "I was gonna say… Secondly, your brain is a very interesting place, Chuck. I'm afraid you're freaking out in there right now, maybe ever since I kinda cornered you out on the beach and told you I was upset…?"
"Um…full disclosure? Maybe." She looked regretful, or maybe even a little guilty, and he rushed on, his filter failing at its job. "Look, that's not anything new. I'm constantly freaking out in here." He reached up to tap the side of his head a few times with his finger. "But don't feel bad. I misspoke, you told me it upset you, we talked about it, I get why it upset you, I apologized…"
"At least fourteen times," she said with a warm smirk.
"Right. That." He cleared his throat, noticing the way her fingers shifted to his tie. It felt good, the slight tug around his neck, her knuckles brushing against his chest with only the thin cotton button-up covering it. "Can I just be blunt and honest with you, Sarah? Because I was just in the shower and I realized a kind of big thing."
She looked almost tentative as she widened her eyes up at him, and then she lowered them to the side, thankfully keeping his tie clutched loosely in her fingers in spite of it. "Um…okay…?"
"I have a really hard time seeing my worth, which you know…quite well at this point. It's probably a big fault of mine. And it's been really difficult for me to get past, put aside, and just…accept the good things in my life. With work, friendships, but…but especially with women. Romantic, uh, romantic situations." He slipped his hand over her hip, running his finger along the waistband of her black denim shorts. "Like this." He narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips. "Ellie, Morgan, Captain Awesome, other people in my life…you know, the growing success of BarTech and our products…they've all been hacking away at my self-worth issues for years. Pushing me to have more self-esteem, have more appreciation for myself and who I am. What I've accomplished."
When her eyes slowly drifted back to meet his, he gave up on the filter altogether. "There's something I need you to know. Before I came here, to Kauai, before I climbed onto that boat and let you talk me into shrugging on that tank and diving into the inky black depths of the killer ocean…" She giggled, shaking her head at him and rolling her eyes. "Before that, nothing was making any real difference in how I felt…about myself. How I saw myself. But I hopped off the side of that boat, and I followed you through that tunnel. And I think when I came out on the other side…" He furrowed his brow. "Things were just…different. I emerged…changed." He chuckled, blushing. "So cheesy, so cliché." He purposely didn't look at her face, ducking his head, looking down at her fingers on his tie. "But I came out from that tunnel more receptive to…giving myself the room to actually look at stuff. Being receptive to change. Like a door was opened that's been shut since Stanford, before Stanford even."
"A door?" she asked quietly, and she stepped in even closer, forcing himself to look up at her through his eyelashes.
"Yeah. Um, a door. I'm seeing little things I think I wasn't receptive to before." She raised an eyebrow, tilting her head, listening intently. "These small moments when you say things that make it pretty clear you like me, you genuinely like being around me. Or things you do that make me feel like you enjoy spending time with me."
"I do," she said steadily, catching his gaze, leaving him no room to doubt her words, or how much she meant them.
He grinned slowly, feeling liquid warmth seeping through his chest and spreading into his limbs, up into his head, pinking his cheeks.
"That, right there. You've made some inroads on improving my self-esteem, Sarah Walker, in a way nothing and no one else has. So. There. That's…that." He cleared his throat. "You've helped a whole lot. I mean, even if I still slip up, even if I still have no idea what you see in me, you see something, and you don't seem like the type to see things that aren't there. My confidence has…" He made a rocket sound with his lips and lifted his pointer finger up like it was the rocket. "Through the roof. Seriously. Just. Wow."
Sarah pursed her lips, and this time he thought he saw a blush on her face. And then her blue eyes met his gaze and they were swirling with something that made him feel almost dizzy. "What time's this fancy dinner reservation in which I should expect to be romanced and pampered, Chuck?"
"Uh," he breathed, glancing up at the microwave clock. "Two-ish hours. It—"
"Perfect."
Her fingers clamped down around his tie and she stepped around him, pulling him out of the kitchen after her, through the living room and into the hallway that led towards the room with the bed.
}o{
He was slow and methodical about the how and where he put his lips on her skin as he made his way back up her body, and he enjoyed the sound of her gasping breaths, the goosebumps, the shiver he felt in her figure beneath his.
She finally grabbed the sheet and flipped it off of his head, forcing him to raise his gaze to her blue eyes.
Her massive grin reached said blue eyes as she took his face in both hands and gently pulled him up to kiss him squarely on the mouth. He lowered more of his weight on her and smiled into the kiss, loving the way she pushed one hand into his hair and cupped his jaw in the other. It felt so tender and intimate, and he wanted to stay here, like this, literally forever. In the perfectly warm cocoon of her bed with her.
Chuck broke the kiss finally, very aware of his own body and what was happening in it. They had a reservation he wanted to be able to keep, and if he let this happen yet again, the way he already had not once, but twice, it'd be a long, long time before they left this bed. And he'd called in a favor to get that reservation. That was something he didn't want Sarah to know.
It had been really, really difficult to get a reservation at this restaurant on short notice, but thankfully an old colleague from when BarTech was first starting to profit still had some sway in specific circles. His circle extended onto the islands, and when he found out Chuck was going on vacation to Hawaii, he told him to call if he "needed anything".
Not sure if getting a reservation at a very expensive and exclusive restaurant on Kauai qualified as "needing something", he'd tried anyway. Luka was more than happy to hear from him and help a friend out. And now they had a reservation.
And he really, really didn't want to screw something up someone else had pulled strings to set-up for him.
It had been a kind gesture. He wasn't gonna throw it in the guy's face. He wanted to keep that bridge in tact. As much as he'd love to stay in this bed all night.
So Chuck finally rolled off of her and to the side, his lips still pressed to her shoulder, his arm draped over her torso.
She made a quiet, whining sound. "Where are you going?" Her pout was stupidly effective and he almost rolled back on top of her again. But he resisted. Just barely.
"Just over here. If I stay right here…" He let his fingertips stroke over her stomach under her bellybutton and her eyelids fluttered. "…we'll never make that reservation." Threading his fingers with hers, he lifted her wrist so that they could both see her watch. "As it is, we should probably get up and get dressed to go soon."
She moaned and turned her face into his hair. "How soon is soon?"
"Depends on what kind of traffic we have to deal with at this time of day on the way to Po'ipū."
Sarah nodded. "I'll keep that in mind, but we can still stay here for a bit longer." She made a thoughtful face. "How long do you think it's gonna take you to get back into that delicious suit of yours?"
"Definitely longer than it took you to get me out of it," he said without missing a beat, and she laughed. He loved the blush on her face.
"Just a little bit longer, then," she said quietly, and she shifted in bed to face him better, wrapping her arms around him and hugging herself tight to his chest, burying her face in his hair and taking a deep breath.
She surprised him then when her voice drifted into his ear again, a quiet, "I'm sorry for being so sensitive, and for the way I sort of…bit your head off today." She'd nearly made him forget about all of that, as intense and frenzied as she'd been with the way she'd touched him. It was so easy to forget a lot of things when he was with her like that. Nothing else seemed to matter in those moments of supreme ecstasy. He was struck speechless by her apology, though, blindsided, so she continued in the silence. "…It's honestly been bothering me since before this morning even. And after everything I said last night when I was drunk, too. You still just…didn't seem to get it. And I snapped. I'd had enough. But I shouldn't have been so harsh…"
Chuck gathered himself, shaking his head as he pushed up onto his elbow, hovering over her. "Wait, no. I mean, thank you for the apology, but you weren't out of line or anything, not in the least. Look, I appreciate that you were honest with me. That's way more important to me than my feelings not getting hurt… Knowing if I say or do something that upsets you, so I can…grow…do better…in the future." He pressed his lips together. "That make sense?"
"It does," she said quietly. "Thank you for being so…you about it."
"I don't really…know any other way to be."
She giggled. "You know what I mean."
"I d—" He stopped. What she said earlier struck him suddenly. And after everything I said last night when I was drunk, too. "Wait, everything you said when you were drunk. Y-You remember what you said when you were drunk last night?"
Sarah swallowed loudly and pursed her lips, her eyes darting to the side. "Uh, yeah. I do. I was drunk but I didn't, like…black out or anything. And I knew what I was saying." She slowly let her gaze wander back to his again. "I…might've said that stuff anyway, but the gin made the words a lot easier."
"You made it sound like you didn't remember what you said."
"Yeah, well… I lied. Because I'm kind of a mess. There. Happy?"He took her in, the blush on her cheeks, the embarrassment, shyness, the tiny frown on her lips, and he smiled, reaching up to stroke his fingers down her cheek and gently turn her face so that she was forced to look at him. "Yeah, actually. Not—Wait, not to the mess part. I mean, I don't mind that. I just mean, in general, I'm pretty…happy. At the moment."
And still he bit his tongue, wanting to just enjoy this, not wanting to cross any lines or pour cement onto it when the cement would only make things…sticky and intense and awkward.
Or something.
So he leaned down to kiss her, humming when her arms came up to round his shoulders. And as his lips moved from hers to wander down her neck, to her shoulder, and back to her neck again, she pulled in a harsh, quick breath and grabbed his face, pulling his lips a safe distance away from her body. "Wait, wait… the reservation. If we don't get out of this bed, get dressed, and leave soon, we could be pretty late."
He groaned and she giggled.
"This was your idea. I'm perfectly happy to cancel, stay here for a few hours, and end up eating cereal or something."
Laughing, he rolled on top of her, kissed her one more time, and pushed himself up to hover directly over her, his arms straight in push-up position. "That sounds amazing. But I really want to be in this fancy dinner situation with you."
She grinned up at him, her hands slipping down to his waist. "You're cute. But I can't get all gussied up with you on top of me, so you have to get out of this bed first."
He groaned again and lowered himself back onto her, swallowing her loud guffaw in a kiss.
}o{
The grin on Chuck's face was a bit lascivious as he tied his tie in the mirror, leaning in close.
"What're you leering about?"
He pulled back from the mirror and smoothed the smile off of his face, clearing his throat. "Leering? I don't leer. I'm a gentleman."
"Does it have anything to do with that tie, gentleman?"
Chuck turned to look out of the bathroom, confused about how she'd even seen the look on his face since he couldn't see her from where he stood. Maybe she'd peeked in and skipped off to continue getting ready and he'd been too focused on his thoughts to notice.
"I mean, it…might." He felt himself blush as he tightened said tie and smoothed a hand down it.
"Uh huh…" her voice drifted in.
He turned away from the mirror, the grin back on his face, and he slowly wandered into her bedroom. "Can't help thinking it's kinda funny that the tie was the last thing to come off and the last thing I put back o—"
But his voice got caught in his throat.
Sarah had been rushing around her room and into the bathroom, doing her makeup and her hair, getting everything out of the way, in just her underwear and bra, this whole time. He'd missed her finally stepping into the dress and pulling it up.
She clicked the clasp together under her armpit and turned to face him with a smirk on her face, and he teasingly let his legs buckle underneath him, crumbling to the floor, his arms limp at his side as he just lay there, unmoving.
Sarah cracked up. "You go from shamelessly naughty to cute as fuck in two seconds flat and I really do not know how you're real," she laughed, wandering over to stand next to him.
He opened his eyes, seeing her feet there in front of him, noticing the black nail polish he hadn't noticed before now. He felt her hook her fingers into the collar of his jacket and tug, even as she continued to laugh, and he pushed himself to sit up, chuckling, taking her in for real.
"Where did you even get a get-up like this? I'm—Jesus Christ, that dress you wore on that first night was… But this one is even more…"
"Even more what?"
"You expect me to know vocabulary right now? When you look like this? Nah."
She giggled, a shy look on her face as she stepped away from him and went into her closet to rummage through what he assumed were shoes. "You like it? It's an old dress from the time I spent in Argentina."
"Ahhhh. It does sort of have that flair to it."
"Flair?" She raised an eyebrow at him over her shoulder, an amused smirk on her face.
Chuck climbed up to his feet and moved closer to her, peeking over her shoulder into the closet. It was potentially an invasion of her privacy, but he couldn't help wanting to know what she kept in there.
He couldn't see much around her anyway as she picked pairs of shoes up, eyed them, and put them back again.
"Yeah, it's got like…a Latin flair to it. The way it clings through the, um, the torso and…" His voice started to fade as she slowly stood up to her full height and turned to face him, letting him see all of it at once again. "…it does the slit thingat-at the bottom. And…legs."
"You and my legs," she giggled.
"Me and your everything."
He froze, his face crumbling in mortification, but amusement burst onto her face as she chuckled. "Oh, you are amazing for my ego, Curls."
"Yeah, well…We've already had the discussion about what you do to mine."
Sarah took him in head to toe, and back up to head again. "Yeah, we did. And just to emphasize the point, the suit somehow looks better the second time around."
Chuck wrinkled his nose and brought his fist up to his mouth, clenching his teeth down on it. And then he groaned, pulling his fist away and leaning over to brace his hands on his knees as if he'd been made weak and needed to collect himself. "God, you're so good at flirting, it's insaaaane."
Giggling, she put a pair of black heels down and stepped into them, bracing herself with a hand on his shoulder. He clamped his hand around her elbow and held her steady, watching as she skillfully put her shoes on, and when she was done, she fluffed out the dress again, running her hands down it. "I can't believe this thing is still in good condition," she muttered, looking down at it. "I haven't worn it once in years, especially not since I got to Hawaii. The Scuba Shack's work parties aren't, uh, all that fancy, as I'm sure you can imagine."
He chuckled and nodded.
"What, uh, what was the dress for? Just out of curiosity? I mean, what'd you buy it for when you were in Argentina?" he asked, eyeing the gorgeous black dress again.
"This? Oh." She shrugged, turning away from him then to start gathering things up to put in a small black purse with a thin shoulder strap. "A dancing competition thing. Not a big deal. I just needed a dress for it so I bought this at a dance shop. It was heinously expensive."
"Dancing competition?"
"Mhm." She distractedly slipped her phone in the purse.
"You competed? Was it, like, ballroom dancing?"
"Tango. I hardly remember it, though."
"You—Tango? Do you even understand how rad that is?! Tango! Isn't that supposed to be, like, the hardest dance ever?"
"Eh. Maybe. I pick up on things like that quick." She shrugged again, then checked her earrings were still in each ear. "Ready to go?" She finally looked at him again.
"I mean, yeah I'm ready, but-but I'm still stuck on this whole you-know-how-to-tango thing, Sarah." He waved his hands through the air. "That's so impressive and cool. I think you can't get more impressive and then you tell me you were in a tango competition. Did you win? If you tell me you won, I'll end up back on the floor."
"Well, now I'm definitely not answering because we need to get out to my car and I don't want you on the floor again." She hastened past him, snagging his hand on the way, and he was forced to follow her to the car.
"Which means you won."
"You're reading into things."
"So you didn't win?"
"Oh my God, Chuck," she laughed.
"I'm sorry. I apologize. I'm a bit much right now, and I know that. But that's, like, bucket list shit right there," he said as she locked up and they headed out towards her convertible.
"Learning to tango?"
"Sort of. To be more precise, dancing the tango with an insanely gorgeous woman. I watched my copy of The Mask of Zorro so much as a kid that it broke."
"Zorro… Like the guy with the cape and the mask who did the…" She made a swishing sound and did the Z in the air in front of her. "That's cute. I can see you being into that guy. Since you're so into superheroes and comic books."
"Hmm. Never made that connection before." He climbed into the passenger seat and turned to watch as she gracefully swung in behind the steering wheel. "There's a scene in that movie where they do this tango thing and it's really hot. And it's been forever sizzled into my brain."
"Huh." She revved her engine and pulled out of her driveway, starting their journey to Po'ipū. "Maybe I can teach you."
He laughed. "That's super sweet of you to offer to put yourself through that torture, but I'm only here for three more days after tonight, and you'll need more like three years to teach me any dance, let alone the tango."
He realized what he said then, and the implications of it. Three years. They didn't have three years. They wouldn't have three years. Three days was like a neon sign buzzing on the windshield in front of him, and they stayed quiet for much of the drive as he silently cursed himself over and over and over.
}o{
Life was taunting him mercilessly.
It wasn't until their hostess sat them down at their table close to the window and away from others that Chuck realized there was another sound wafting into his ears besides just the beautiful sound of the waves from the beach he could see out of the window. The restaurant had soft music playing.
Specifically tango music.
In a seafood restaurant.
In Hawaii.
Really?
And after the stupid thing he'd said in the car?
Sarah laughed and pointed up. "You hear that? Tango. What are the odds?"
"Hah." He shook his head, smiling at her. "Crazy."
He didn't want to leave in three days. He wanted to stay here and figure this thing out. He wanted to see through the stuff she'd said last night, with Alexei getting protective in a way he hadn't with anyone else at the Scuba Shack. And after only meeting him a few times. With Sarah taking him into her home, harboring him from the hurricane, introducing him to the Shack team, her friends, after only two dates, getting drunk with him after only a few weeks of knowing him.
There was no question she genuinely cared about him, and he should've known well enough not to open his dumb mouth earlier today. But that was done, it was over, and he'd learned his lesson. He hoped. But what did that mean in three days?
Was there mileage here? The kind of mileage that could handle…well…literal mileage? Twenty-six hundred miles worth of mileage?
Sitting on a plane for five hours and spending hundreds on a ticket just to see each other in person felt like a massive undertaking. He thought he could do it though. As long as it wasn't a full cut-off, as long as he didn't have to say goodbye goodbye, instead of saying it and knowing he'd at least see her again, hopefully at some point soon.
"What?"
Chuck blinked and looked away from her. God, he'd probably been staring at her like a fool. "Um, nothing. You just look…incredible." That was true, at least. She did.
He glanced at her again and she was smiling at him over her menu. "Thank you." She lifted the menu a bit and looked down at his that still sat on the table in front of him, untouched. "You…already know what you want?"
"Oh." He grabbed it and opened it quickly, clearing his throat. "No, I-I am looking. Now. I just got distracted."
She giggled at him as he inwardly winced, the tango music mocking him as he scanned the entrées and tried to get himself to just. enjoy. this.
}o{
This was a religious experience, though he supposed that didn't mean much from someone who hadn't practiced any sort of real religion a day in his life. Unless video games counted. Maybe Star Trek.
Nothing made him ascend quite like this, though.
The seared Mahi Mahi tenderized on his actual tongue as he poked it between his lips, melting in his mouth, the slight tang of a mango pineapple salsa mixed with an almost honey sweetness assaulting his taste buds immediately.
He just sat there letting it all happen, his eyes shut, fork hovering.
"Is that…good? Did you break your tooth or something?"
Chuck blinked his eyes open again and chewed, what chewing he even had to do. "Mmm. No. Teeth are fine. It was just so good that I forgot how to eat. I had to just let it sit there on my tongue for a second. Oh my God." He swallowed. "This is the best fish I've ever had." And without really knowing why he did it, he lifted up a hand and caught the eye of their server as she whisked past. She stopped, smiling politely. "I just want to tell you that I've never had anything this good ever in my whole life and I'm not sure if I can handle even finishing the whole thing, I might combust from taste happiness halfway through."
The waitress laughed and turned to exchange a look with a giggling, beaming Sarah. "I'm not sure what I was expecting you to say but it wasn't that. Thank you. I'll pass the compliments on to the chef. He'll be pleased to hear it."
"Please do. When you have the time, of course. You're busy, I get it."
"I will. Anything else you need?"
"Are you kidding me?!" he exclaimed. "No! This is… What else could I possibly need?"
Sarah reached across the table and patted his hand lightly. "Okay, let her do her job now, Chuck," she said fondly, still beaming.
As the waitress thanked him again, still laughing, and hurried off, he turned a wince on Sarah. "Was that weird? Did I overdo it?"
"I think you charmed the hell out of her and I wish you wouldn't do that when I'm trying to keep you all to myself these last few days you're here." Her fingers closed around his and squeezed.
Chuck cleared his throat and blushed. "Oh. I'll, uh, try to tone it down."
She giggled. And then she eyed his plate. "Can I try your fish if I let you taste my ahi steak?" She looked almost tentative, wincing, as if she was fully aware of how foolish of a question that was after the production he'd just put on over how good his Mahi Mahi was.
He laughed. "No, absolutely not. It's all mine. Of course you can try it. Honestly, I'm so jazzed about this, I almost want everyone in here to come try it, but that's probably a lot, huh?"
"Probably," she said, shaking her head and chuckling. "But it's sweet. Here." Sarah dug into her steak, broke off a piece, and put it on his bread plate that was in the middle of the table. "Take a ravioli too. It's porcini inside."
"Por-whatta?"
She smirked. "It's mushroom."
"Oh God. There are so many things in Kauai I want to take home to LA with me and the food is not the least of them, I'll say that." He followed suit and took a chunk of his Mahi Mahi and carefully levered it onto her bread plate, making sure some of the tasty chunk sauce on top was drizzled over her piece as well.
"Thank you. So if the food isn't the least, I have to ask… What's the most?" He gave her a questioning look even though he knew exactly what she was asking. "You said out of all the things you want to take home from this place, the food isn't the least of them. What's the most?"
He wouldn't fall prey to that flirtatious sparkle in her eye. No, he wouldn't. Instead he took a bite out of the piece of ahi steak and groaned. "Oh my God, this is amazing too." She just smiled harder at him, raising an eyebrow and he knew she wasn't letting him dodge her question. He gave her a flat look, swallowing the food and sipping his wine. "Fine. What's the most? I'm pretty sure you know." And he met her gaze over the table, a breeze wafting in from outside playing with the blond hair that framed her face, those fathomless blue eyes of hers just watching him.
"I might," she said finally. "At least it's definitely not the hurricanes."
So they weren't going to say it out loud. Neither of them. He snorted. "No, not the hurricanes. They can stay far away from me, thank you." He skewered the ravioli she gave him and shoved the whole thing in his mouth. This was melting against his tongue too. "How is this food so good? I feel like I've died and gone to Heaven."
Sarah threw her head back with a laugh. "That's the cheesiest thing you could've said and you've broken me, I think, because this kind of thing was never attractive to me before and somehow I'm even more attracted to you when you break out the cheese. It's the weirdest phenomenon."
He tried not to preen, as good as it felt to hear her say that. "Let it wash over you, Sarah Walker. Embrace it."
She cracked up. "Cheeky." But she didn't seem too upset about it as she took a long sip of her wine, keeping her eyes on his over the rim of the glass.
And not for the first time, he felt insanely lucky to be sitting here out of all places in the world, and with her. Especially the last part. He didn't want to think about the fact that when he woke up in the morning, he'd only have three full days left on this island.
So he tried to push it out of his head altogether, instead focusing on her, on the tang of the wine the waitress had picked for him to go with his meal, the tender and melty Mahi Mahi, and the beautiful weather drifting in through the window they sat near, the sight of the beach and the Pacific Ocean stretching out towards the horizon.
"So what are we doing after this incredible dinner, then?" she asked, interrupting his quietude.
He turned to look back at her and shrugged. "I have no idea. This is the only thing I planned. Why? You got any ideas, Scuba Sarah?"
Sarah gave him a flat look for that nickname, amusement still in her face. "I might. But there's a chance you might not want to do it." She narrowed her eyes and leaned in close, slowly slipping a piece of tuna between her lips and chewing. When she swallowed, she tilted her head. "It'll require you to be a little daring."
He tugged at his suit, pretending to be offended. "And when have I ever given you the idea that I'm not daring?"
She just smiled quietly, and it widened into a happy grin. "We're gonna take the True Love II out on the water, just the two of us."
He blanched. "At night? Uh. Um. No. That's okay."
Sarah laughed, then muffled it with a hand over her mouth. "Sorry, I'm not laughing at you. I just knew you'd immediately say no."
Chuck gave her a look, feeling that tingle of nerves go through him, making him almost a little light-headed. "No, it's just… I mean, being on a boat? Naaah. Being on a boat at night when you can't…see, like anything around you? I…I don't think I…"
"Hey, hey…" She reached across the table and picked up his hands, squeezing them reassuringly. "I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to upset you."
"No, you…didn't."
"I feel like I did. And I didn't mean to. Will you just do me a favor and listen to my idea? It's very simple and not as scary as you think. I promise."
He cleared his throat and nodded with a small shrug. He didn't want to hear her idea if it meant being on a boat again, especially not in the nighttime. That was crazy talk.
"Okay, we get on the boat. It has a motor remember. And an anchor. And we aren't going to go out far, just past the waves, I'll take us as close to the shore as I'm legally allowed to. Drop the anchor. And we can just sit in the moonlight and look at the lights along the shore." She shrugged one shoulder cutely, the look on her face reassuring him more than anything, even as she stroked his hands with her thumbs comfortingly. "Kinda romantic, right?"
Chuck let out a long breath, the panic still there thinking about being out on a boat in the dark. "The-The only thing is I'm thinking about how it's gonna be super dark out there. What-What if a massive wave starts coming at us from the ocean and we don't see it coming because of how dark it is and it smacks into us, capsizing the True Love II and dr-drowning us both?"
To her credit, she didn't roll her eyes or give an exasperated sigh, the way he expected, the way anyone else who hadn't gone through his trauma might. Instead, she watched him seriously and asked, "What would cause this massive wave, do you think?"
"I don't know. A…storm out there?" He gestured at the sea with a flick of his head. "Or an earthquake. Those cause tidal waves." He paused. "A kaiju."
She furrowed her brow. "Kaiju?"
"Godzilla. Mothra. Gamera. Oooo! Or Guiron. Especially Guiron. They're giant Japanese sci-fi monsters."
This time Sarah shut her eyes, letting her head fall forward as she giggled. She lifted her chin again and squeezed his hands, smiling at him. "Well, the operating word there is sci-fi. Which, I'm no nerd, but I think that means science fiction?" she teased.
"You might be a little bit of a nerd, maybe."
She let go of one of his hands and pointed at him. "Take that back." They chuckled together. "It's fiction, Chuck. There's no such thing as a kaiju, which means no kaijus will be making giant waves. As for your earthquake theory, the True Love II has one of Alexei's machines he drops ridiculous amounts of money on. It picks up earthquake activity. So we'll keep our eye on that. But even then, we'll have plenty of time to get back to shore and up to higher ground before any sort of wave arrives. And the storm theory is the easiest one of them all because I know for a fact that are no storms from here all the way to the California coastline. Know how I know that?"
"How?" he asked, unable to keep from melting a little as she worked her magic to reassure him. He didn't think he would get over this woman for the rest of his life. She was too many good things all wrapped up together. She was a dream, and so real, both at the same time.
She leaned in even closer. "I checked before we left. No storms anywhere. And if there is something out there, it won't reach Kauai until tomorrow or even the next day at this point. So we're safe from any giant waves if we go out tonight."
"You just tore down all of my best theories, Sarah Walker," he said, a dreamy look on his face. He knew it was there and he just let it stay. Let her see it and know she was kind of…everything.
"I know. I'm a stinker."
He giggled. And then he sobered up and winced. "I'm sorry. I know I'm really annoying to try to do stuff with when it concerns, um, boating activities. I don't mean to be. It—"
"Hey, don't apologize," she cut in. "Please. You went through something truly terrible, and I can't imagine what sorts of…memories or sensations you still have ingrained in you from that day. I'm not going to make you go out there with me tonight. Not if you think it'll…be really bad for your mental health. It's not gonna be fun for either of us if you can't relax and you feel awful the whole time." She sighed, reaching over to fix one of his curls he'd tried to tame before they left for dinner. "But I think once we get out there, you'll relax. And remember, I'm a pro. I'll take us as close to the shore as possible without us getting busted. You'll see the lights of Po'ipū. They're beautiful at night. Nothing like…I dunno, Monte Carlo. There aren't as many people here, which is a good thing. But still…with the mountains behind the shore?"
Chuck took a few big breaths, reaching up to catch her hand in his and holding onto it like it was a lifeline. "Maybe I can…I dunno, take a couple of Prozac?"
She laughed. "Chuck, I don't wanna deal with whatever you're like on too many Prozac while I'm trying to pilot a boat."
"Okay, fine, that's fair," he muttered, making her snort.
"What do you say?" she asked then, sweetly. She pursed her lips in a bit of a pout. "I'll take care of you, Chuck. I promise. It'll be worth it. I can promise you that, too. Just us…nobody else." It wasn't fair, the way she was looking at him when she said that, her fingers stroking over the back of his hand oh so lightly, teasingly. "The lights on the shore. I might have a bottle of champagne stashed in the fridge belowdecks."
"Is that legal? Drinking and piloting?"
"Chuck."
"Sorry." He cleared his throat, having busted the heated bubble that had surrounded them. "I'll, uh, leave that to you, you know what you're doing there."
She gave him an amused look then squeezed his hands again. "So? What's the verdict? You gonna trust me enough to get on a boat with me this…one last time before you go back to LA?"
Chuck inwardly groaned. She'd phrased that in a way that made it impossible for him to say no. Was he going to trust her enough? He winced. Damn it, Sarah. She knew what she was doing. But she was wily enough not to let it show in her face. She had plausible deniability. This woman was a force to be reckoned with.
He would gladly do it. Bring on the reckoning.
Rolling his eyes at himself for that one, he sighed and hung his head, taking a few moments to steal himself. And then he lifted his chin, sat up straight, and shrugged, as if this wasn't the scariest possible thing he could imagine doing.
"Oh hell, let's do it."
And he was absolutely positive that lights of the Kauai shoreline from out in the water weren't shit compared to the beauty of the massive, beaming smile Sarah Walker hit him with at that moment. They didn't hold a candle to her smile.
A/N: I hope everyone is still saying safe. Keep wearing masks, especially inside, and get vaccinated if you haven't yet. In the meantime, hopefully this story is doing something to keep you from losing your mind.
-SC