The Detective and the Tech Guy
Authors: Steampunk . Chuckster & dettiot
Rating: T
Summary: A case of mistaken identity and murder brings Sarah Walker, Pinkerton agent, to sunny California. Protecting the heir to the Bartowski Electronics Corporation should be just business - but Chuck Bartowski fills out a suit nicely and makes a mean martini. Chuck lobbied to hire the Pinkerton Agency, but had no idea the detective they'd send would be as alluring, intelligent and fascinating as Sarah Walker. Will the detective and the tech guy solve the mystery, distracted by the riddle in their own hearts? An homage to The Thin Man movies co-written by Steampunk . Chuckster and dettiot.
Disclaimer: We don't own Chuck or The Thin Man series. And we're making no monetary profit from this story.
Author's Note: Here's the second part to "The Detective, the Tech Guy, and the Necklace"!
Still written by Steampunk . Chuckster! Enjoy! - SC
XOXOXOXOXOXO
Another five days had passed since she received Chuck's incredible gift, and in that time, things had progressed with her case. She guessed it would be another three days or so before she was able to wrap it up, tie it with a bow, hand it to Graham, and make a beeline for the states again.
She loved Oslo. It was beautiful, full of history, the people were wonderful, the sights and sounds were exciting and electric.
But she wanted to go home.
Detective Walker missed Chicago, but more than that she missed being on the same continent as her boyfriend. It felt repetitive and droll to say she missed him, because she thought it so often these days it was simply a part of her existence now. She was Sarah Walker Who Missed Her Boyfriend. It was ingrained into her identity.
She would write it in her personnel folder beneath her birth name if she wasn't absolutely certain her superiors would fire her the moment they found out who her boyfriend was. It didn't matter that they'd only slept together after the Gerheart case was officially finished.
Sarah stepped into her hotel room and groaned, letting the door slam shut and turning on her lights again. She unwound her scarf, shrugged off her jacket while simultaneously stepping out of her boots, then walked straight to her closet.
Within moments, the necklace was in her hands again, and she wondered if it was normal to be this obsessed with a piece of jewelry. It was gorgeous—absolutely the prettiest thing that she'd ever owned to date. But she knew that wasn't why she liked it so much. It was the reminder that there was a man out there who'd specifically picked it out for her, bought it, and sent it with an arrangement of her favorite flowers to her hotel room from over five thousand miles away. Not because he was trying to impress her, and not because he was making a possessive statement. He did it so that she would know he cared, that he was thinking of her. And maybe there were other things he hadn't voiced. After all, he'd only been given a small yellow card to get his message across. But God, what he'd written there in his neat handwriting had been enough to make her stow the card in the safe right beside the necklace. And that damn lopsided heart he'd drawn. The wonderful jerk.
As she put the necklace back on and sat in front of her vanity to look at it for what must have been the thousandth time in the last five days, she wondered again how much he paid for it.
It was in bad taste, she knew, but she was curious. Chuck was rich. And it truly didn't matter how much the necklace cost, considering that the thought that went into it was leaps and bounds more important than the money he spent. She'd never owned anything from Tiffany's and she knew nothing about priceless gemstones and jewelry. She bought jewelry that looked good on her.
So it was no wonder that she found herself draped over her bed a few minutes later, propped up with a pillow beneath her chest and her laptop open in front of her. The light blue border around the Tiffany and Co. website lined her screen as she scrolled through necklace after necklace. She didn't need to look at what was hanging from her neck to compare, because she'd memorized every last detail of the thing in the last few days.
That was why she knew immediately when she found it. She paused before she clicked on the icon. Once she did this, there was no going back. Ignoring her conscience, she clicked and felt a wave of dizziness overcome her when her eyes fastened on black numbers beside the picture of her necklace.
$635
"Shit," she breathed, gaping at the price. She'd paid about that much for a month's rent when she was in law school and sharing a tiny apartment with two other girls. And this was one simple necklace—a beautiful, elegant, wonderful necklace that made her feel a little bit like a princess when she wore it—but he paid over six hundred dollars for it!
Holy shit, Chuck.
She pushed herself to sit up and pulled her knees to her chest. Everything was tingling and she was having a bit of a hard time breathing suddenly. And was the room getting smaller?
Squeezing her eyes shut, she took a deep breath and covered her face with her cool hands.
Chuck had spent that kind of money on a piece of jewelry. For her. And they'd only been dating for two months. Even then, they'd literally only been in the same city for a few days of those two months, and the rest of their relationship was conducted through phones and laptops. She was trying not to hyperventilate, but the more she looked at the numbers, the less she could breathe.
So she slammed her laptop shut and took a couple of deep breaths.
She knew he cared about her. She knew he cared about her a lot. And while she knew there was a certain degree of seriousness to their relationship that she wasn't sure she was capable of handling before, this was intense. This was suddenly very real. And the emotions and passion and burning desire between them was no longer all that uncomplicated.
God, she'd been so laid back about this. And all this time, he'd been all in.
Wait. She was fooling herself, and had been this whole time. Because she was all in, too, wasn't she? She'd told him straight that she was willing to do whatever it took to make the relationship work. Why would she say that if she hadn't been all in even then when this whole thing began?
Her head had been in the clouds these past two months, and Chuck's feet were planted firmly on the ground. He knew what they were getting into and faced it head on. Because she was much more important to him than she'd ever known. It was so obvious now.
This sudden realization gave her a flurry of emotions, and she was completely and utterly overwhelmed. And antsy. And scared.
She was in a serious relationship and she hadn't been paying attention enough to notice when it happened. Which was so stupid! Because she'd already thought about the future multiple times. She took for granted that Chuck would always be in her life, no matter how far she imagined into the future. And really, what was more serious than that?
Sarah found herself in a mild panic, then.
It wasn't that she didn't want to be in a serious relationship with Chuck. It was that she did want to be in a serious relationship with him, so very much, and she wasn't sure if she knew how to deal with that.
This realization suddenly made everything so clear, though. Her feelings for Chuck went much deeper than she knew, and she wanted to figure it out. The problem was that it would be easier to figure out if she was with him. In the flesh.
A handful of days splayed about a Parisian hotel room with him simply wasn't enough. She needed him in person. She needed longer than they'd had in Paris. She needed to know that their relationship was stable enough to survive…well, normalcy.
But that wasn't in the cards just yet. She had to finish up here.
Sarah made herself a promise, though. As soon as she was able, she was going to figure things out, pin down how she felt about him, and finally come to terms with just how important Chuck Bartowski was to her.
—-
A beautiful, blond detective had once told Chuck that he zoned out a lot, too much for a regular person.
The truth was that he'd been zoning out a lot more often in the last two months than he ever had before, and he blamed Sarah Walker. It had been sixty five days since they parted in Paris, sixty five days since he'd seen her face not on the screen of his phone or laptop, sixty five days since he'd touched her.
Giving into his annoyance, he thrashed a bit on the couch he was splayed across, punching at nothing before slumping against the cushions, turning his face into the couch back and letting out a puff of air.
It was supposed to be hard, wasn't it? Being in a relationship?
Add to that the fact that the relationship was being kept under wraps by both parties, and that one party was a world-traveling, international detective agency employed bad ass; it really couldn't get much more difficult than that, could it?
He flipped over onto his stomach, letting one arm and one leg hang off the edge of the couch and staring vacantly at the wall.
Chuck had meant to stay at the office longer tonight, but he had literally run out of work to do around ten thirty. When the choice was to sit and stare at the wall in his office, or to sit and stare at the wall in his condo, he decided on the latter. At least here there was ice cream, cookies, chips, he thought he'd spotted a banana in the fridge, and plenty of alcohol.
But he wasn't at that stage—drinking until he passed out. Because besides the fact that they hadn't seen each other in way, way too long, everything between them was fantastic. Their talks on the phone, texting, the now rare Skype session that they'd only had once since she started the case in Oslo—all of it was punctuated by the comfortable back and forth, the flirting, the affection, and the mutual sexual tension that somehow still existed even through technological interaction.
He forced himself to change the subject of his thoughts before he became surly with sexual frustration, and instead focused on his work. Moving through the week, silently ticking off the things he would have to do tomorrow, the meetings he would be leading the day after…None of it was really all that important. And his dad had told him earlier that day that he needed a damn vacation before his brain mutinied and said, "Screw this. I'm outta here." This was all in Stephen Bartowski's words.
Where would he even go on vacation, anyways? And by himself? Screw that.
He groaned when he heard a soft knock on his door.
He really did love Morgan Grimes and was glad he was taking an active role in their friendship now that he was back from Hawaii and working as a Benihana chef. The guy was living his dream, and at least he never showed up smelling like fish, which was really all Chuck could ask for, to be honest.
But his thing with one of the waitresses at the restaurant fizzled out the week before and Chuck was on seven-days-a-week best friend duty. Morgan had been there for him through his own post-Sarah-leaving depression, and he had been the driving force behind really getting out of his slump and agreeing to go to Paris. And that had been the most fortuitous thing of his life to date.
So he could sacrifice a bit of peace and quiet to keep his buddy company and assure him that the girl just wasn't good enough for the beard. Simple as that.
That didn't mean he wouldn't complain to himself behind closed doors, growling under his breath as he pushed himself up from the couch. He still had his work clothes on, but dressed it down to get comfortable. His suit jacket laid across the back of the couch, his dress shirt unbuttoned and untucked with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, showing his white muscle shirt beneath. Barefoot, his hair a mess. And his tie dangling loose about his neck. He probably could have changed, but what was the point. He'd be falling into bed in a few minutes anyway.
Chuck opened the door and slumped forward to lean his other hand against the door frame, trying not to look too disenchanted with his midnight guest.
His hand slipped a little against the frame and he almost pitched forward when he saw that it wasn't Morgan on the other side of the door, but Sarah Walker.
Sarah Walker with a swift grin that was a little breathless, her eyes so bright, and oh God, the necklace. She was wearing the necklace he'd bought her and sent to her and Lord save him but she was so beautiful. Sarah was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen and—
It had barely been three seconds since he opened the door when she lunged forward and wrapped her arms around him so very tightly, pressing her face into his neck.
After a split second of surprise, he rounded her torso with his arms and squeezed, putting one hand at the back of her head and letting his eyes shut in relief and bliss and an array of powerful emotions.
The door was still hanging wide open a few moments later, but shutting it would require him to let go of her and he wasn't ready. Not in the slightest. In a moment of brilliance, he lifted one leg around her and kicked the door shut with his foot, still squeezing her just as tightly against him with his arms.
He felt and heard her giggle into his neck and he turned his face to kiss her temple.
Sarah pulled back a little, but only enough so that she could look up into his eyes, sliding her hands over his shoulders and cupping his face. Her fingers rubbed gently along the scratchy surface of his jaw and cheeks and she smiled so hard he felt a little dizzy. "Hi there," she breathed.
Chuck moved his lips to her neck and nuzzled her collar bone, his nose rubbing over the chain of the necklace. "How did you get here?" he asked when he could find his voice, his arms still wrapped securely around her.
"A plane," she giggled cheekily, one of her hands sliding into his hair. "You're really letting these curls go, huh?"
All he could do was groan at the feeling of her fingers combing through his dark curls. And then he pressed his lips against her skin, breathing in her intoxicating scent that he hadn't realized he'd missed until now. He felt her breath hitch as he dragged his lips up to her jaw, over her chin, and finally capturing her mouth in a heated kiss.
Within moments, he had her pinned against the door, feeling her tug his muscle shirt from his pants and sliding beneath, her cool hands against his heated skin giving him a delicious chill. And then he felt the pressure of her tugging on his tie to pull him closer.
"Sarah," he sighed against her lips and she responded with a soft whimper. When he dove in to intensify the kiss, she grasped onto his dress shirt lapels and quickly swept it over his shoulders, dropping it to the ground behind them.
With a thrill shooting through him, Chuck pushed his hands between their fronts and unbuttoned her coat, pushing it off of her and making to walk it to the coat rack beside his door. But Sarah curled her fists in his shirt and pulled her mouth from his, meeting his heated gaze with one of her own. "Just leave it," she whimpered desperately, quickly toeing out of her boots and wrapping one of her legs around his waist.
Chuck groaned and let the coat slip from his fingers as he felt her lower half press tightly against his. He slid his hands around to her backside and hoisted her up against him, forcing her to round his body with both of her legs, a surprised but sultry look on her face as she looked down at him and tangled both of her hands in his hair.
He banged his knee against the coffee table, but otherwise safely guided them to the couch he'd just been moping on not five minutes earlier. It was quite the accomplishment, considering the fact that one of Sarah's hands was working to unbuckle his belt as he stumbled along.
Gently lowering her to the cushions, he pulled back for just a moment, staring down into her hazy eyes, drinking all of her in, from the way her chest was heaving to the feel of her skin beneath his hand where her blouse had ridden up. And then she continued with his belt, not deterred by the kisses he dotted along her throat and down her chest as he unbuttoned her blouse from top to bottom.
He felt her slide the belt out of the loops and heard the thunk of it hitting his floor where she threw it, but he caught her off guard by slipping his hand underneath her bra to cup her breast.
They rocked together, as if of one mind, Sarah letting out a strangled whimper of his name.
She gave his tie another little tug before sweeping it off over his head and tossing it onto the coffee table. He pushed his lower half against hers again and she squeaked. "Chuck. Bed."
Chuck shook his head slowly, rubbing his nose into her cheek and moving his lips to kiss her neck. Then he nipped at her skin and grinned before sucking at her jaw just beneath her ear. "Mm mm. Right here."
He thrusted against her and she gasped, her eyes rolling back as she reached behind her head to clutch desperately at the arm of the couch. "Jesus, Chuck."
Propping his elbows on either side of her body, he kissed down her torso and stopped just above the waistband of her jeans, popping the button and sliding the zipper down with his teeth. And then her fingers were clutched a bit painfully in his hair and she hoisted him back up so that they were face to face. "Ow, ow, ow, ow…"
She slammed her lips into his and giggled as he squirmed on top of her, kicking his pants off while trying to keep from breaking their kiss. Her hands grabbed at the hem of his muscle shirt and he sat up to let her tug it off over his head and toss it behind the couch.
"I missed you so much," he breathed, attempting to slow things down a bit by lowering his weight onto her and wrapping his arms around her in an intimate embrace.
"I missed you." Her lips brushed against his ear as she whispered her response.
And then he peeled her out of her jeans and climbed back on top of her, resting his hips between her legs. That was when he saw that the necklace was still around her neck. He tried to ignore the residual hurt from that night he'd called her before he left his office, when she'd admitted she wouldn't wear the necklace in public. Her reasoning for it was a good, but the feelings he was left with because of it were less good.
Without realizing what he was doing, he gently lifted the necklace up from her bare chest and peered down at it in his hand. "You look amazing with this on," he said quietly, not realizing that his face was a little pinched with emotion.
Sarah's hand slid up to stroke behind his neck. "It's a beautiful necklace. I think any woman would look amazing wearing it."
When he met her eyes, he knew she could see everything that was going through his mind. That caused him to blush a little. "No, Sarah. I think it was made for you."
He smiled when she leaned up to gently kiss the tip of his nose. "Thank you, baby. It…" She sighed and cupped his face, her thumb slowly stroking over his lips. "You don't know how much this necklace means to me."
His heart hammered against his ribcage as he raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Really?
She nodded. "It's the most important thing I own." Her eyes darted off to the side before their azure depths, flooded with flecks of other earthy tones, moved back to pin him with a meaningful stare. "Chuck, I want you to know that…even though I can't wear this in front of other people, that doesn't mean I don't love it. I do love it. So much that I wear it anytime I'm alone. Full disclosure, I've also worn it to bed a few times."
Chuck grinned happily at that. "You've gone to sleep wearing this?"
"Yeah." She shrugged a shoulder coyly and gently pushed him off of her so that she could crawl out from beneath him and sit up, curling her bare legs under her body. God, he'd even missed how she folded her legs up and became smaller whenever she was alone with him, either clutching her knees to her chest or curling her long limbs beneath her.
He sat up and tried to ignore his pronounced arousal as he met her gaze. "You're crazy, Sarah Walker," he murmured with no small amount of adoration.
"It's not that crazy," she grinned, reaching out to fix one of his curls from where it fell against his forehead.
Chuck propped his arm over the back of the couch and leaned his cheek on his bicep, peering over at her with a small closed-mouth smile. "Sarah, can I say somethin' real quick? And then we're going to have to stop talking for awhile because—"
"Yes, please," she interrupted with a vigorous nod, her eyes hungry.
For a moment, the tech guy thought to hell with what he had to say and almost tackled her back into the cushions. But he knew it was imperative that she understood where he was coming from. She had to understand how much she meant to him.
"I just want you to know that nothing has changed. I still feel what I felt in Paris. And I stand by everything that I said. I stand by what we agreed on. The last time I saw you in person was a very, very long time ago. And it has sucked, frankly. A lot. But this moment, seeing you wearing—wearing that—" His eyes flicked down to the necklace and he couldn't help peeking at her cleavage poking up from her bra before he looked into her eyes again. "Being with you again? It's so damn worth it."
A slow smile began pulling at her full lips.
"And nothing's going to change that. I know—I know that we're keeping this under wraps for now. And that nobody else in the world knows about our relationship but us. This secret aspect to our romance, though? It doesn't make how I feel about you any less real. It doesn't make what we have any less important."
She nodded slowly, a small smile on her face, her eyes radiating how she felt about him, filling his entire being with overwhelming warmth. And then she reached behind her and he heard the quiet click of her bra being unclasped before the garment was gone, lying in a heap somewhere on the floor where she'd tossed it carelessly over her shoulder.
Chuck then scooted closer and she wound her legs around his hips, her hands clutching onto his shoulders as she pressed her chest flush against his.
He slid his hands up the smooth skin of her back and tenderly swept her long, blond locks to the side so that he could set his fingers to the chain of her necklace. His touch light as a feather, reverent. He slid his digits down the chain, feeling the coolness of it with her heated skin beneath it.
Sarah's eyes swam with emotion as he lifted the necklace away from her collar bone and swiped his thumb over one of the stones. Neither said anything. They didn't have to.
And as his other hand clutched at her leg, Sarah's body jolted a bit and she grabbed his wrist, lifting it to her lips where she set a soft kiss.
Chuck melted with a soft moan of her name, his eyelids fluttering as his heart beat rapidly and he lowered her to the cushions. Every bit of their garments was gone moments later save the necklace, and they were wrapped around each other, giving into the sensations, voicing their pleasure, once again exploring that fantastic element of their romance that had been sorely neglected for so, so long.
Sixty five days.
And not a day longer.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Author's Note: Still so much more to come! Hope you're all enjoying the read! Leave reviews! - SC