The Detective and the Tech Guy

Authors: Steampunk . Chuckster & dettiot

Rating: T

Disclaimer: You know the drill. We don't own Chuck or the Thin Man series, and we aren't making money off of this story.

Author's Note: Thank you for being so patient. I got really busy. But I do intend to keep posting these chapters in the coming weeks to catch up with how far we've written. And I've been working on the story on my own for awhile, so hopefully I can keep the story going! Here's a bit of catch up! This one is all dettiot. Hope you all enjoy! Stay tuned! -SC

XOXOXOXOXOXO

"Charles Irving Bartowski, what the hell happened to cause a bill for $11,000 from your hotel in Paris?!"

His full name was never a good sign from his mother. Add in her tone of voice-exasperated and annoyed-and Chuck didn't delay in ending his phone call to one of the R&D teams he supervised. He stood up and faced his mother, who was pacing in front of his desk holding a sheaf of papers.

Mary Elizabeth Bartowski, all five foot six of her, was an intimidating woman. She didn't understand technology all that much, but it was her keen business sense and shrewd tactics that had helped Bartowski Electronics succeed when so many other tech companies had failed. Between his father's technical genius and his mother's head for business, they had built a company that Chuck was proud to work for.

But it also made his mother pretty damn scary, especially at times like these.

"I'm sorry, Mom. I thought the hotel knew to charge my credit card directly for the room and the damages, instead of billing the company."

"They did," Mary said. "But we still got a copy of the bill, so I want to know just how-and why-you destroyed a luxury suite in one of the best hotels in Paris."

Chuck swallowed. Destroy was a bit of an overstatement for what he and Sarah had done to his hotel room . . . although not by much. But was it any wonder that their passion had resulted in a little light destruction? He didn't think so-not with how he felt for the beautiful, smart, strong Pinkerton detective who had saved his life and become the woman of his dreams.

Having Sarah in his life made everything better. He woke up excited about the day ahead, because at some point he'd get to talk to Sarah. He worked harder than ever, because it would let him pile up vacation time he could use to see Sarah. Everything seemed brighter, because Sarah was like a star that his planet revolved around. She was becoming everything to him, even more than she was before, and for now, he was going to enjoy this feeling, enjoy everything that came with having Sarah in his life.

But there was one problem: he couldn't tell his mother that. He couldn't tell anyone what had happened with Sarah, because they had agreed to keep this secret. Private. If word got out that Sarah was involved with him, it could affect her career. And Chuck wasn't about to deprive the world of Sarah Walker's skills.

For the most part, he didn't mind keeping this quiet. It was like having a secret that only he and Sarah knew about, a secret that made their relationship special. Almost sacred. The only downside was not being honest with the people he loved. Although when it came to his love life, there was only so much honesty he wanted to have with his mother.

"How . . . and why," Chuck said, repeating his mother's words.

"Yes! For example: antique wall sconce, ripped from the wall," Mary said, sliding her glasses down from their perch on the top of her head and reading from the thoroughly-itemized bill in her hand.

"The wall sconce. Yeah. Um, I came into the room one night, and it was dark, so I was trying to turn a light on. And I tripped! I tripped, and to break my fall I just kinda flailed my arms around, and I ended up grabbing the sconce and pulling it out of the wall as gravity and inertia just kept going. You know, like in Newton's First Law of Motion? An object in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by an unbalanced force? I was the object in motion and the ground was the unbalanced force and the sconce was a poor innocent bystander."

The longer he talked, the deeper the hole he was digging, Chuck knew. But he couldn't let on that he was involved with Sarah. His mother had been strongly against the decision to call in Pinkerton, and when they had sent a female detective to head the team, his mother had gotten even more vocal in her dislike. Her behavior towards Sarah during the case could politely be called frosty. When the day came that he and Sarah went public with their relationship, he didn't want Sarah to worry about his mother. So for now, it was about taking the blame and making sure he didn't slip up and reveal his new girlfriend.

Girlfriend. He had a girlfriend. And not just any girlfriend. He had Sarah Walker.

Chuck felt a grin spread across his face as for just a moment, he thought about Sarah. Thought about the early morning phone calls, right after he woke up and just before she went to bed. The Skype sessions on the weekends, when he got to look at her beautiful face and watch her smile at him, laugh at his dumb jokes, and listen to his rambling. Because Sarah Walker was amazing and knew just what he needed. And he was working extra-hard to do the same for her. To be what she needed.

"Chuck!"

"Huh?" Chuck said, taking a step back when he realized his mother was only a foot away from him. "Um, sorry?"

Mary rolled her eyes. "So that's the wall sconce. But what about the rare teak table?"

"Knocked it over when I was trying to turn on the light," he said quickly, unable to believe he was coming up with responses so fast.

His mother raised her eyebrows. "And the bed frame? How do you explain that, Chuck?" She looked down at the bill and read, "'Bent bed frame and cracked mahogany headboard.' Chuck, do you know how hard mahogany is? Do you realize just how difficult it is to crack that wood?"

He had a good idea. But he wasn't about to let on. Chuck licked his lips. "I didn't sleep very well when I was there. Lots of tossing and turning. I guess I was too rough on the bed. You know how those fancy pieces of furniture are-they don't hold up very well when you move around a lot."

She harrumphed and sighed. "I suppose so."

"I'm sorry, Mom. I'll be more careful in the future," he said. "And of course, I paid for all the damages and left very big tips for the housekeeping staff."

"Just remember that these trips aren't paid vacations," Mary said, eyeing him. "You're representing Bartowski Electronics. And I didn't bring up my son to be some playboy of the Western world."

"I'll remember, Mom," Chuck said, giving her his best innocent smile. "No playboying around for me."

Mary sighed and leaned up to kiss his cheek. "Okay. Did you hear that Ellie and Devon are coming down from San Francisco this weekend? We're having dinner together as a family on Saturday night. No excuses."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world," Chuck said, checking his watch. "I'm sorry, Mom, but I've got a conference call in five minutes."

"All right," Mary said, wiping the lipstick off his cheek. "You're working too hard."

"But I love it, Mom," he said, giving her a quick hug. "And I'm okay, really."

She gave him a long look-one of those special looks that mothers seem to use when they wanted to open up your skull and see what you were thinking. But somehow, Chuck managed to keep his smile in place and act no differently from normal. So his mother just shrugged and left with an admonishment for him to get some rest.

"Yes, ma'am," he said, giving her a small salute and a grin. Once she was gone, Chuck whipped out his phone and sent a text to Sarah.

Called on the carpet by Mom over Paris hotel room damages. Couldn't tell her I enjoyed every dollar of those damages. Miss you.

XXX

It was all Sarah Walker could do not to giggle when she read Chuck's text. And she didn't giggle.

But something about Chuck made her feel just as silly and goofy as he was. He liked to make her laugh-but he loved when she made him laugh. She could tell by the way he threw his head back and laughed with his whole body, before looking at her and smiling that wide, white smile of his. The one that made her feel like everything was right in the world.

God, she missed him. It had only been three weeks since Paris and already she was craving a repeat of that weekend in his hotel room. Perhaps someplace warm and sunny, like Tahiti.

She looked down at her notepad and doodled a small palm tree in the corner, even as she kept listening to the very boring meeting going on around her. Thanks to years of attending such meetings, she knew how to keep listening and absorb the information even as her mind wandered. And while she used to think about shoes or martinis, now she thought about Chuck.

They never went more than a day without talking to each other. Even if it was just a quick phone call, the need to hear each other's voice outweighed most other priorities. And on the weekends, when they could use video chat and actually see each other . . .

There had never before been a man with whom she was willing to do the long-distance relationship. Passion was all well and good, but in her experience it burned out quick. But with Chuck, there was more than just passion. Not that there wasn't plenty of that, she thought, feeling her lips quirk in a small smile for a moment.

But the heat and fire between them was only part of the equation. She felt almost dependent on their phone calls: winding down after her long day by calling Chuck and talking about what had happened, hearing what he had done . . . Whether he had just woken up or was getting ready for bed like her, he was always ready to talk. And for Sarah Walker, who had never really talked with her lovers, it was almost blissful to have someone like Chuck in her life.

"Agent Walker, perhaps you could bring us up to speed on the Morelli case?"

With a thump, Sarah came back to Earth. She cleared her throat and opened a folder. "Yes, sir," she said, looking at Senior Agent Langston Graham, the man running this meeting. She launched into a discussion of the case involving one Ernesto Morelli, detailing the cyber-attacks he had been accused of launching and the legal case wending its way through the federal courts. The Pinkerton Agency had been hired to investigate Morelli's claim that he was innocent of the allegations, and Sarah had gotten the case after she came back from Paris.

"In short, I don't think Morelli has the technical know-how to do what he's accused of, and he's certainly not profiting from the attacks. Far from it, with losing his job and being blackballed by all the major tech companies," Sarah said, finishing her report.

Several of the men around the conference table looked unswayed-Graham among them. "We still haven't heard back from the computer forensics people?" he asked, shooting a look at the head of Pinkerton's computer investigation unit.

"We had to farm out the work to a private firm. They're having difficulties following the trail the attacker took," the computer head said, fidgeting with his papers. "We should know more in a week."

"And meanwhile, our client is swinging in the breeze," Sarah said, leaning forward in her chair. "Perhaps we shouldn't take on tech cases if we don't have the infrastructure to support our investigations."

"If that was the case, Agent Walker, you wouldn't have gotten to spend four months in beautiful, sunny California. It's not so easy when you're stuck here in Chicago in January, hmm?"

The frustration she felt at being a target for Agent Shaw's sniping, a man who was nothing but a pain in her ass, was only eclipsed by the chuckles from the rest of the men. And yet again, she ran head-first into the wall of male privilege that closed her out from the respect and acknowledgement she deserved.

Sarah lifted her chin. "Just thinking about the man who's facing life in federal prison if we can't get our act together."

"Sarah, your thoughts are noted," Graham said. "Alex, make sure your people are giving Sarah exactly what she needs for this case. Now, moving on to the next agenda item-"

As Graham redirected the conversation, Sarah looked down at her notepad. Taking her pen, she scribbled out her palm tree and did her best to concentrate. But in the back of her mind, she knew that she wouldn't really feel better until she had talked with Chuck.

And maybe . . . maybe he could do more than just soothe her hurt feelings. After all, he knew all about technology. It wasn't exactly kosher, but she could tell him enough about the case to get his input and find out what she might have missed. If she left out any identifying details and kept everything vague, it wouldn't be breaking too many rules.

Even better, if she could put Shaw the smug bastard in his place by solving this case, she could put in for some honest-to-god vacation time. Have a whole week to spend with Chuck. That seemed like a win-win to her.

And it was also the kind of thing that could get her fired if her bosses found out. Because you had to have a good reason to break the rules, and she wasn't sure Graham and the other senior agents would agree with her logic. Especially since she couldn't reveal anything about her relationship with Chuck.

Holding back a sigh, Sarah resigned herself to finding another way to see Chuck. Perhaps she could invite him to Chicago. He'd love seeing the city, she thought. And even if she was working some of the time, she'd get to see Chuck when she woke up. Have dinner with him and then curl up on the couch together. Spend a lazy weekend together without ever leaving her apartment.

They were going to make this work. Even if it meant not getting everything they wanted, even if it meant random weekends together and a lot of phone calls and video conferences. Because she was pretty sure she was getting addicted to having someone in her life, someone who could make a bad day better and a good day amazing. And Chuck was very, very, very good at making her feel good, in so many ways.

So even as Sarah presented herself as the model of a Pinkerton employee, she was secretly plotting just how soon it would be until she could see her boyfriend.

XOXOXOXOXO

Author's Note: Let us know what you all think. Thanks for reading! -SC