The Detective and the Tech Guy
Author: Steampunk . Chuckster
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.
Disclaimer: No money is being made from this story. I don't own Chuck or The Thin Man series.
Author's Note: I have had a lot going on, so updates have been/will continue to be a little slower. Thanks for being patient. :) This is the last part of this arc. Appreciate the reviews. Here's part 4 of the "The Detective and the Tech Gift"! Thanks!
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
"Listen, this isn't like a train station or airport or anything, okay? If you see something, do not say something. I don't wanna know." Sarah turned to give Adisa a weirded out look as they walked towards the doors of the Burbank Buy More. "You'll get it in a second. Trust me."
She was almost a little nervous as they finally stepped inside, and she didn't get what the big deal was as she looked around the place. Green and yellow signs hung down with slogans like, "Buy More great buys!" and "Buy More for less!" The typical salespeople in green polos were helping customers. People were browsing.
"Okay, let me see if I can pinpoint an ally. Nobody's ever really manning the Nerd Herd desk…" Adisa got on his tiptoes and scanned the store, determination on his face. "Ah. Skip. I've dealt with him before." Sighing, he motioned for her to follow him. "Just be as patient and tolerant as you know how. That's all I'll say."
She gave him a look again.
"Skip!"
A tall, skinny blonde with his hair frizzing out in a weirdly symmetrical globe-shaped puff turned around from where he stood at the laptop demos, playing what looked like a version of Pong. She wondered if his boss knew they were paying him to play video games. Then again, from what Adisa had told her, this was par for the course at this place, wasn't it?
His eyes widened at seeing Adisa and he immediately spun around and clapped his hands desperately in the air, loud, making some sort of distinct beat.
Sarah froze on the spot, pulling her chin back and furrowing her brow in confusion, before she slowly turned to meet Adisa's eyes. "What…the…fuck?" she mouthed.
"They're coming," he said cryptically, like a wise old soothsayer at the beginning of a horror film, before the undead creatures crawled out from their graves. "It's too late to run…"
Suddenly, people in white and green shirts came out of the woodwork, stepping out from behind stacks and cardboard standouts, signs, popping up from behind washing machines and barbecues. Chuck had forced her to watch Invasion of the Body Snatchers over a year ago, when they were still long-distance secret dating, and she's slugged through the whole thing. Even with Chuck Skyping with her as they watched in their respective apartments on their respective televisions, they'd eventually signed off so she could go to sleep, and she'd had a really hard time lying in bed without thinking every little sound was a zombie that had snuck into her apartment.
She would never tell anyone that.
But God, this situation was a little triggering.
The globe-head gestured wildly to her and Adisa, then spun with a grin on his face, pointing, before he reached out and took Chuck's assistant's hand, shaking it happily.
"Hey, Skip. Yeah, good to see you too. Chuck's good. He's really good. He said to tell you hello."
Skip pointed to himself as if to say "Me?" and then beamed, fixing his glasses.
"Skip, uh…and everyone else… This is Sarah."
They all stared blankly.
"Uh…hi." She gave a weak wave. She received only blank stares and silence, so she cleared her throat. "So… Uh, you all worked with Chuck back when he was in high school, huh?" They kept staring. "Great, that's great," she mumbled when nobody responded.
"You know Chuck?" A cherub-faced redhead with glasses and pimples asked, tugging on his green polo nervously.
"Yeah. Yeah, I do. Um, I'm his girlfriend."
"WHAT?!"
"NOOOO!"
"CHUCK BARTOWSKI IS A LEGEND!"
"HE IS A GOD!"
The crowd closed in on them, exclaiming any number of things that honestly made her want to sprint out of this place and never come back.
It wasn't worth it. Apache Adventure Bot wasn't worth this.
But Adisa reached out and put his hand on her shoulder politely, almost a reassurance that she'd be okay, that these people wouldn't kidnap her and put her in a box under their bed.
"I don't get it. The guy must've sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads," a fellow with black, stringy hair and a Nerd Herd uniform said, his eyes taking her in, awe on his face…but it was a calculated awe, like he was trying to figure her out.
"Like Robert Johnson," an older, curly-haired, balding Nerd Herder drawled. Was he…drunk? On heavy medication maybe? "Legend."
Sarah blinked at him. Were employees here allowed to interact with customers when they were under the influence?
"Are you real?" the dark-haired Nerd Herder asked then, moving in too close for comfort as if he was looking at her face for proof, little incongruities in her features. "Did he build you?"
"Excuse me?"
That was a new one.
"Chuck. He's always been a genius. A mastermind."
"Yeeahhh, it's like Weird Science. He made you in a lab, didn't he?" The drunk guy moved closer and took a huge sniff of her. "Smells real." She'd had enough. She twisted her fist in the front of his shirt threateningly, clenching her jaw. "Oh God, she has the grip of Terminator himself," he whimpered. "She's a robot. She's a robot, Lester!"
Lester didn't do anything to help his coworker, just staring in awe still. There was fear there, too. "Are you more robot parts or is there viscera in there? Like…Westworld. Jeff, she's a host. Chuck's really done it now. He's going to bring about the end of humanity. I said he would." He turned back to the others. "Didn't I say he would? The kid was just too smart."
"Okay… Hold on. Let's go ahead and calm down, everyone." Adisa finally stepped in, easing her grip on Jeff's button-up. She shoved at the asshole a little, then flashed a dangerous gaze at the others. "We come in peace."
"Are you a host, too? You are also insanely attractive, good sir," Lester said, eyeing the young man.
"No! God! We're both human beings! This is Chuck's girlfriend, Sarah."
"God, he's just such a legend," the pimpled guy muttered. "You know, he fixed my first smartphone. None of my friends now ever believe me when I tell them that."
"Fernando, you don't have friends aside from us."
"Yeah, I know. You guys don't believe me either, even though you were there," he said wistfully.
Skip thrust his phone in Adisa's face then, flashing the screen at him. Sarah leaned in to read what he'd typed.
Did you want another VR 2X headset? It upgraded to 3X and I can get you a line on it even though it isn't technically on the shelves yet. Still in trial runs.
Sarah's eyes widened a bit. So this was the guy Adisa must've been talking about. The guy who knew things, had insider information in the tech market.
Adisa shook his head, but then he paused. "I mean…" Sarah sent him a look. "Uh, we can talk about that later, Skip. Yeah. We'll talk about that later." Skip nodded and winked. "We actually came for another reason."
"World domination," Sarah heard Jeff whisper. She sent him a weirded out look and he sent her a dreamy smile. A horrific chill went through her.
Adisa ignored him, if he'd heard him at all. "Have any of you heard of Apache Adventure Bot?"
An outcry went through the small crowd. Some of them put their hands on their heads and groaned, others made the sign of the cross.
"I'll take that as a yes," Chuck's assistant mumbled. "Our boy Chuck's been looking for a copy for decades. As you know, it isn't an easy thing to get your hands on these days." Adisa gestured to Sarah. "She wants to get her hands on a copy of Apache Adventure Bot for him. And I know I've brought her to the right place, huh, gents?" He held his hand up then, wincing at the dagger-filled look the girl in fishnets and Doc Martens sent him. "And…girls. Women. Sorry. Ahem."
Skip nodded and typed something into his phone, holding it up. Sarah leaned in to read it again.
If we can't get it no one can. But it will be a process.
"Good. That's what I like to hear."
Sarah followed Skip and the others as they went to the Nerd Herd customer service desk.
"I heard rumor there was a copy found in Brazil last year. Sold for a whole lot. But it was the deluxe demo. Even rarer than the original," Jeff drawled drunkenly.
"Your mom is a deluxe demo," Lester snarked.
"Yeah. She is."
Everyone stared at Jeff for a long moment, and Sarah wondered if anyone would say anything, but then they all went back to business. Laptops came up, phones, there was even a tablet.
Sarah leaned closer to Adisa. "Don't think I'm looking a gift horse in the mouth or anything, but don't they have other customers to help? Work to do? The stuff they get paid to do?"
"Chuck takes precedence. These people know that," Lester said, spitting out the word 'people' as if his customers were pests and nothing more.
Sarah wasn't sure the customers would quite understand, but she really wasn't looking a gift horse in the mouth. Their boss could deal with the repercussions of this.
"I have a lead," Jeff said, holding a finger up. He pulled a chip out of his pocket and ate it. "Wait no, never mind. I thought it was a lead, but it's just stretchy pants with Nicholas Cage's face all over them."
Everyone groaned.
"Add. To. Cart."
"My ex-uncle has his eyes on something," Lester said then, staring down at the tablet.
"Ex uncle?" the fishnets girl asked, eyes still on her phone screen.
"Well, he divorced my auntie, the bastard. Completely cut me off from my Blizzard connections. I'll never forgive her for not taking him back after he cheated on her with seven women." Lester huffed and rolled his eyes. "Yep! Okay, okay… We might have something here. Do you have stock in Sanrio?" He looked up at Sarah seriously. She blinked. "Sanrio. Sanrio! Come on, woman! Like Hello Kitty Sanrio! Do you have stock? Answer!
"No!" She exclaimed, holding her hands up. "Jesus…"
"Oh. Okay, I'm sure it'll be fine. He'll accept money, I guess. Or Starbucks gift cards."
Sarah exchanged a flabbergasted look with Adisa.
Skip snapped his fingers, then turned his laptop for everyone to see. He pointed at the script he'd written up. Found a copy. Mint condition. Adult man child living in mom's attic went on vacation. Mom's fed up. Is selling his video games and consoles. AAB going for $100.
"Get it!" Sarah snapped, rushing around the desk and pushing in behind him, shoving Jeff out of her way to get to the other Nerd Herder. "Get it now before she realizes how much more she can get for it."
"Oh man, her son might murder her for this," Lester said, crowding in behind her.
"Maybe, but that's not my business," Sarah said.
Adisa gave her a look. "Aren't you a private investigator?"
Oops.
"HOLD ON! CHUCK IS DATING A P.I.?" Lester screeched.
"Oh my God, he's a legend. An icon," Jeff groaned. "Dating Laura Holt, the real Remington Steele. He touched me once."
"Remington Steele?" Fernando asked.
"No. Chuck. I was choking on a carrot. He came up and gave me the Heimlich."
"You eat vegetables?" Lester asked.
"Not anymore. That's why."
"Ah."
"Sounds fake but okay," another Buy More employee muttered.
Sarah shook herself a little and turned back to what Skip was doing. "Did you get it? Are you buying it?"
Skip lifted his finger and Sarah wondered why he couldn't just tell her, and answer with his words. Instead he pulled up the Notes tab again. It will be on its way here soon but don't get hopes up. Don't count chickens til they hatch.
"But she said it's Apache Adventure Bot, didn't she?"
He nodded.
"Keep up the search, people. Just in case," Lester announced. "Mean Mama might be a melt."
"What?" Adisa asked, giving Lester a weirded out look.
"I got caught up in M words. I dunno." The shorter man shrugged.
Sarah felt her phone buzzing in her purse then and she reached in to pull it out. It was Chuck. Crap. "Shhh! It's Chuck!" She stepped out from behind the desk and moved away from them.
"Tell him he's my hero!" Lester hissed, but the fishnet girl covered his mouth, rolling her eyes.
"Chuck! Hi!" She gestured wildly at the Buy More employees to quiet down.
"Hey, this is going to sound weird but I can't find my 'Talk nerdy to me' t-shirt and I was wondering if you've got it. Can you look in your drawers for me?"
She smirked a little. "Come to my place a little later on and you can look in my drawers yourself, tech guy."
"I—Okay, that was really awful but hot at the same time, so I'm honestly not sure what to do with myself now." She giggled. "No, but seriously, do you have my shirt?"
"I might have it. It sounds familiar. But if I do have it, it's because you slept over and left it with me."
"I'm not blaming you, I'm just asking if you have it because I need it."
"What do you need it for?"
"You being coy for a reason?"
"Maaaaaybe. Feel free to go to my place and look but I'm not home right now."
"Oh? Where are ya?"
"Out," she said, pursing her lips.
"Out, huh? Hm… Doing case work?"
"Um, sure."
There was a long pause, and she knew her unconscious comfort-level with Chuck had just done her in. "What's going oooonnnn?" he asked then in a suspicious, sing-song voice.
"Going on? What do you mean?"
"You're being dodgy. Or cagey. I dunno, my brain is fried after this long-ass week and I don't have much of a handle on vocabulary right now."
"I'm not being either of those things. I'm just teasing you, ya goof. I'll be home later, but you have a key to my place, don't you? Just go get your shirt. It's probably in my top drawer in my dresser where your shirts typically end up. What do you need that shirt for anyway? Can't you wear another one?"
"No, it has to be that one!" He sounded like a pre-teenager.
"Why?"
"Because Ellie's asked me to come to her crafts circle or whatever and give them a quick lesson on Photoshop and I'm gonna show up in a shirt that says, 'Talk nerdy to me', that's why." He snickered. "It'll embarrass the crap out of her."
She snorted and shook her head. "Why are you going out of your way to embarrass your sister?"
"It's a sibling thing. She threw me under the bus with my mom and I was forced to go to that damn fancy dinner a few nights ago for the social whatsis soiree whatever… when Ellie was the one who was supposed to go. So she's getting hers now."
Sarah laughed. "You two are so weird."
"Yeeeeah," he drawled. "But you love us."
"I do. Is it a green shirt?"
"It is a green shirt."
"I think I do have it. But when you're done, bring it back, huh? I like that shirt."
"It's my shirt," he laughed.
"So?" She shrugged. "If you bring it back, I'll wear it for you," she said, lowering her voice so nobody else could hear her coming onto him on the phone.
"Really? With what?"
"Nothing. That's the point."
He made a strangled sound.
"Okay, damn… Well go back to your secret thing you're doing. I'm going to your apartment for that shirt. I need to be at this tea house or whatever to teach Photoshop in an hour. If your room looks like a tornado hit it, it was me."
"Don't—"
But he'd hung up. The little punk.
She chuckled and put her phone away, but as she turned around, she found Jeff standing mere inches away, staring at her. She jumped and squeaked, pressing a hand to her chest and shutting her eyes in annoyance. When she opened them again, he was giving her that watery smile.
"So you wear his shirts, huh? Do you like men's clothes?"
"Oh my God. Go the fuck away," she snapped, holding a hand up as she pushed past him.
"We have a couple of leads. That's all I came over here to say," he tried.
She ignored him and went straight for Adisa. He winced sympathetically. "Told you. See something, do not say something. I don't wanna know."
"No. You don't." She shivered.
She wondered how in the hell Chuck had spent years in this place and survived with his sanity in tact.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
One Week Later
He groaned, letting himself rest his forehead against the steering wheel for just a few seconds in the comforting silence of his car. He was so exhausted he wasn't even sure he could make it up the stairs to Sarah's apartment.
But if he didn't try, he'd end up falling asleep in the driver's seat of his car instead of in his girlfriend's extremely comfortable bed. Better yet, in her arms.
That got him moving.
What an extremely terrible twelve hours he'd had.
It had been fine until around four or so, after he'd received a call from Sarah while he was doing a bit of coding again, a bit of experimentation for a potential new B.E.C. project.
She'd invited him to stay the night at her apartment and it had taken him no time at all to accept her invitation. But then he'd gotten swamped at work.
He'd had to have an emergency meeting with a sponsor who needed a lot of extra reassurances and buttering up for them to keep his investment. And then his programmers had pointed out a huge misstep in one of B.E.C.'s new antivirus updates, so he'd had to sit with them and work that out. And of course that had become a finger pointing contest, tempers had flared, and he'd had to deescalate things to make sure two of his programmers didn't end up with black eyes. And by the time he'd gotten back to his own office to grab his things and head to Sarah's, it was after eleven.
But he just had to check his email before he headed out…and of course there was a last minute report he'd thought he would have an entire week to work on, finish, and send in. They needed it by nine in the morning so that they could proceed to the next steps. And there was a very strict timeline they needed to keep to if they didn't want to fall behind and not meet the release deadline.
He hadn't even texted Sarah he was on his way because it was after three in the morning and he knew she had to be asleep.
And of course, some asshole had gotten drunk and crashed into a few other cars on the freeway, so there was a huge jam. At three in the fucking morning. His dumb ass had decided the freeway would be the quicker route and of course there'd be no traffic at this time of night. God, he wished he'd taken surface streets. He would already be in a bed—specifically his girlfriend's bed—all tucked away and warm and fast asleep.
Chuck groaned again as he got out of his car, snagging his briefcase and trudging his way up to her complex. He walked into the courtyard, yawning, his jaw popping, his limbs absolutely aching he was so damn tired and just done.
He unlocked the door to get into the building and then stopped, just staring.
Sarah Walker lived on the third floor, didn't she? "Oh God," he muttered, whimpering miserably as he dragged his feet up to the steps and took them one at a time, leaning heavily on the railing.
It felt like an hour had passed by the time he reached her floor and he wanted to cry.
Checking his watch, having to blink a few times to see through blurred vision, he realized it was close to four.
Cursing, he unlocked her apartment door and pushed inside. Everything was dark, save for the strip of moonlight flooding in from her living room window by the table. It was just enough light for him to see as he dropped his briefcase and keys by the door, shrugged off his coat, smacked it against the door of the entryway closet so it fell to the floor there instead of actually putting it away inside. He pulled his suit jacket off, unbuckling his belt and pants, pushing them off, untying and yanking his sneakers off when he realized he couldn't take the pants off until he did that…
He left a trail of shoes and socks and clothes all the way into her bedroom until he stood next to her bed, looking down at the inviting lump of her body under the covers. He wished he was a lump under the covers. And he just stood there for a good ten seconds daydreaming about that, instead of actually getting into bed which would've been a better use of his time.
But then she moved under the covers and grunted tiredly, turning over in bed to look up at him. She blinked, then reached over to turn on the bedside lamp. "Why are you just standing there creepily?"
"I'm too tired to move. I think my brain is broken."
She huffed in tired amusement and leaned forward to look at her clock. Her half-lidded eyes popped when she saw the time. "Dear God, Chuck! It's four o'clock in the morning!"
"Yeah." He shrugged.
Sarah tilted her head at him and pouted a bit. With the way she was wearing a cami that was crooked on her torso, her hair mussed, beautiful features a little slack from tiredness, she just looked so comforting and inviting.
And then she stretched her arms up towards him and he grinned down at her.
"What are you doing staying at work this late?" she asked him then as he crawled under the covers and eagerly snuggled up against her as she laid back against the pillows again and wrapped her arms around him tightly, pulling him halfway on top of her so that he could bury his head in her neck and just die there.
He groaned, his voice muffled by the crook of her neck. "This has been the worst twelve hours and I want to stay like this forever and sleep."
She made a pitying noise and rubbed his back, before he felt her hand slip into his curls. She stroked his hair in silence for a few seconds, and then she shifted to turn the lamp back off before she cuddled up against him again and kissed his head. "I think sometimes you need to know when to cut the cord, get yourself out of there, regroup, and go back in the next day." He pulled back a little to give her his best Pot Calling the Kettle Black look and she winced. "Touché," she giggled.
"I'll whine to you in the morning about all the shit hitting the fan that made my workday ten hours longer than I'd planned for it to be. For now, I just wanna stay here and sleep until my whole body atrophies."
She snorted. "Well, not that long, please. You and I both need your body."
"Oh God, if you'd come onto me like this ten hours ago, I would already be halfway to third base, but I'm way too tired to even leave home plate."
Sarah giggled and stroked his hair again. "I was just being honest."
He smiled against her neck, letting her feel it, his teeth grazing against her skin, and her body shivered against his. "I'm sorry I woke you up coming in, though. Go back to sleep."
"It's okay. I'm glad you came…even though it's, like, nine hours later than I figured on."
He was already half asleep, his eyes shut, his body getting heavier, molding into hers. "Mmm'sorr…"
"It's okay, baby," she whispered, still stroking his hair gently. "Just sleep."
He did.
And when he woke up later that morning, he reached out for her. His hand met an empty spot in the bed where she'd been. But it was still warm as if she'd just gotten up. He rolled over a little and glanced at the clock, groaning and face planting in the pillows. He'd only gotten maybe five hours of sleep.
He breathed out a curse.
Figuring he wasn't going to get anymore sleep now that he was this awake, no matter how hard he tried, and with the knowledge that this wasn't his bed technically anyway, staying in bed past nine-thirty wouldn't feel the same as if he was taking up space in his own bed.
Yawning in his usual Wookiee style, he pushed himself to sit up and stretched.
It was right as something popped in his upper back deliciously that the door to the bedroom was pushed open and Sarah peeked around it. She smiled warmly upon seeing him awake, then stepped inside.
"What are you doing awake? It's only a little after nine."
"I'm a glutton for punishment. Anyway, I'm awake." He realized she'd walked in holding a mug of what had to be coffee. He could smell that delectable scent wafting through her apartment now. "Is that yours or mine?" he asked hopefully.
She giggled. "Why not both? Here."
Closing the distance, she thrust the mug out towards him.
"No, no. That's yours. It's okay."
"Have some. I made a whole pot."
Making a face, he carefully sipped the brew and hummed. "I might be good at martinis, but your coffee making skills are unrivaled, Sarah Walker, P.I., oh my God." She smirked and sat on the edge of the bed next to him, running a hand over his hair to smooth it back. "Thank you. I need this."
"You need more sleep." She gave him an admonishing look and he felt sheepish as he winced. "What're you doing staying at work so late, anyway? What happened? It sounded like you were getting ready to leave for the day when we talked on the phone."
He sipped more of the coffee, moaning a little at how good it was. "I was ready to leave. In fact, I was going to grab my briefcase and escape when my dad called me up and told my Brent and Co. was considering pulling out of their sponsorship." She frowned in question. "I had to to run across town to sit down with Aaron Brent and butter 'im up. Got him to stay on, but that was two and a half hours I really didn't want to have to spend with a straight-up megalomaniac." He leaned into Sarah's touch as she stroked her cool hand over his face, landing on the nape of his neck. His eyes slipped shut and he just let himself enjoy it for a few moments as he spoke. "And then we discovered a few discrepancies in our new antivirus update and everyone was so worn out and frayed at the edges that it almost came to blows and I had to deescalate that."
She winced. "Yikes."
"And we had to work together after all that to fix it, even with the tension between Hasan and Wes. Okay, and then…I finally got back to my office around eleven or so, and I was about to text you and leave, but then I thought to myself, 'Hey, maybe I should check my email before I go for the night. Just in case!'" He gave her a flat look.
"Oh no. Something big and important in the inbox?"
"A report I thought I had a week to finish. Had to make sure they had it by nine today. Right now." He pointed to her clock. "So I stayed at the office for an extra four hours, trying to finish the stupid report."
"You finish it?"
"Yeah. Oh, and then I thought I'd save time by jumping on the freeway but of course there was a three car accident and bumper to bumper traffic."
"Oh my God. You're right, that was a horrible night. I'm sorry, Chuck." She rubbed his neck comfortingly. "But you're here now. I wish you'd let yourself sleep a bit longer…" She had excitement in her eyes, though, he realized. Had it had been there when she first walked in the room and he just hadn't noticed it yet because he was tired?
"What?" He asked, a small smile growing on his face. He sipped more coffee, then handed it back to her.
"Hm? What?" she parroted, taking a sip of her own, an innocent look on her face.
And then he remembered something. When she'd called him yesterday to ask him to stay the night, there'd been something in her voice. Like she was just barely holding something in, excitement just under the surface.
"What's up? You seem…I don't know. Like a kid on Christmas waking their parents up."
She widened her eyes innocently, then beamed. "Well. There is something. Your birthday is coming up, you know?" He teasingly wrinkled his nose in disgust and she giggled. "Well, I could wait for that. But I don't really want to. Last night, I was gonna cook you a really fancy nice dinner."
"Aw, maaaaannnn! Were you? I would'a dropped that sponsor for a home cooked meal made by Sarah Walker, P.I."
She laughed. "Don't get ahead of yourself, there, bub. I don't think it would've been worth that. But anyway, it didn't happen. So I think instead, you're just gonna have to deal with opening this gift over morning coffee instead of a fancy dinner."
"We can have fancy breakfast later," he reasoned. "I'll make it. And then I'm going to go ahead and skip the whole work thing today and be a complete and total bum." But then what she'd said a moment ago actually sunk into his sleep-deprived brain. "Wait, opening what gift? I have a gift? My birthday isn't for—"
"I know, I know. But I was too excited to wait once I confirmed it was the right thing." She leaned in and kissed his cheek. "Wait here. I'll be right back!"
Sarah handed the mug back to him, so excited she nearly had the coffee sloshing over the lip of the mug and into his lap. He just barely rescued himself from that fate and gaped at her as she dashed out of the room.
He heard a thump and a curse, some rustling paper, and then she came back down the hallway and appeared in the doorframe again, leaning against it with one hand behind her back.
"Hi," she breathed.
"Hi. What've you, uh, what've you got there?"
Sarah played coy for a moment in a way only she could, and then she slowly crossed the room to where he still sat in bed, still tired, exhausted even. She stopped beside the bed and pulled a gift bag out from behind her back, the tissue paper sticking out of it messily. Ribbon tied the handles together and it looked like she'd attempted to curl it with scissors and it came out…poorly.
"I'm not even gonna say happy birthday because it really wasn't for your birthday. It was just something I wanted to get you. For…reasons." She plopped down on the edge of the bed again. "I'll take the coffee if you take the present."
Grinning at her, he pushed the mug towards her, taking the present with his other hand.
She cradled it on her lap with both hands and just watched him eagerly. He picked at the ribbon, trying to get it off of the handles of the bag, but she'd made it a quadruple knot or something.
"Uh…yeah. I'll, um, I'll get it. I just… no nails." He held up his hand and wiggled his fingers with a scoff. "I, uh…" Clearing his throat, he went back to it. Damn it, he just wanted to know what was inside.
Sarah giggled, an adorable blush on her cheeks. "I maybe overdid it with the ribbon. It's just…something people…do…when they give gifts. I think. I, um, I'm not really…" Something came over her face for a moment and she tucked her hair behind her ear. "It's been a long time since I've…wrapped a gift…or whatever. Last year, we weren't…together for your birthday. I mean, we were together. We were dating. Just not in the same…place. Sorry, it's stupid. I went overboard. I could've just given it to you without the bag and stupid tissue paper." She huffed, looking embarrassed.
"No, no. No, this is…Sarah, you are perfect. This is perfect."
"You don't even know what's inside of it yet because I knotted it, like, six times." She chuckled, ducking her head.
"Six times?" He laughed. "Sarah, you could'a just done it once." The look she gave him made him clear his throat and stifle the laughter. "No, six is good. Six is…You can never be too careful with these thi—What-What are you doi—Oh, that's a knife!"
Sarah had reached over to her nightstand, pulled open the drawer, and taken a large knife out, flicking her wrist with masterful skill to flip the blade out. She cut the ribbon away and pushed the bag back at him. "There."
"That's…" He watched as she put the blade back in the hilt, then tossed it back in the drawer, shutting it again. "That's probably the hottest thing I've seen you do ever. Probably. And I've seen you do a lot—" He gulped. "A lot of hot things."
"Will you just open the fucking bag? Jesus, Chuck."
"Right!" He laughed, making a show of tossing the tissue paper every which way, even throwing some at her to make her laugh. She bat it away, glaring, a smirk on her face.
And then he reached in and pulled something flat, about the size of his palm, out… He unwrapped the tissue paper she'd wrapped around it a few times, and then he gaped.
His jaw fell right into his lap. "W-What's…What…?"
The badge was in the corner…And a robot stood looking out at the Western horizon, a gun in its hand, hat on its head. APACHE ADVENTURE BOT was printed in that Wild West saloon font at the top.
Chuck Bartowski knew in that moment that he was a twenty-seven, almost twenty-eight year old grown-ass man...with the beginnings of tears in his eyes because of a video game. A damn video game.
The video game.
"Is that it? Is that the right one? I know you've always wanted Apache Adventure Bot but I don't know anything about the console it was on, or what you even—do you even have what you need to play that? I didn't even think about that. I just knew it was super rare and you wanted it." She huffed. "Did I get the right game? Is it the right version?"
Chuck lifted his eyes to hers and pulled the game in to press it against his chest right over where his heart was. "Apache Adventure Bot…" There was awe in his voice, disbelief, and he could hear the tightness there, the way his voice shook… He refused to let the tears fall even though he was sure she could see his eyes were rimmed with them. "How did—Where did you—How?"
"I'm still not sure if this is what you've been looking for or not." She seemed to almost hold her breath.
"God! Yes! Sarah! I'm sorry, yes! This—! Yes!" He looked down at the game again and let out a watery laugh. And then he looked back up at her. "Sarah, thank you. Oh my God!" He dove in and hugged her tight, hard. "This is it. This is what I've been trying to get my hands on for…for decades. Oh my God!"
She held onto him just as tightly and giggled. "Thank God. I was doing this completely blind. And I know absolutely nothing about this sort of thing!"
That was true. Sarah wasn't a gamer in any way, shape, or form. There was no way she'd know what Apache Adventure Bot was, or any other rare game. She didn't even know the big ones you could find readily available in any store that carries games—Assassin's Creed, FIFA, Destiny…
So how…?
He was gobsmacked as he clung to her, lifting the game up to look at it again behind her back. "I'd given up on it. I really had. I just…" He pulled back and grinned at her, the reality of what he held in his hand, what Sarah'd given him, starting to sink in. His heart was beating faster now. "How'd you even do this?" He shook his head and pulled back to look at her. "How'd you know what it even is? And I don't—I don't mean that in a condescending way at all. You just don't do the video game thing, that's all."
"No, you're right." She giggled. "I had no idea what in the hell it was except you have that poster in your hallway. Morgan told me," she said, beaming. She shrugged as if it was that simple. And it wasn't. It so wasn't. At all. In any way.
"Morgan? He…told you what Apache Adventure Bot is?" He was confused. Did Morgan tell her to do this? Why?
She shook her head, then tilted it, narrowing her eyes. "Well, I mean…yes. He told me. But it's because he got me that badge, remember? Last week?" He nodded. And then it clicked. "Oh God. Of course! The badge he got you is like the one from Apache Adventure Bot." He chuckled, pushing a hand through his hair. "He mentioned the game, you asked what it was, he told you. Did he tell you I've been pining after this game since I was literally a child?" He held it in both hands and stared down at it in awe, feeling every last bit of the gloom and frustration that had carried over from last night start to dissipate like it never existed in the first place. "It is so hard to get these. I mean, they were basically wiped from existence, or close enough to it. You have no idea…I mean, the conspiracy theor—"
"I knoooow," she groaned. "A rival gaming company took out A2's kneecaps and made a game almost exactly like it and Apache Adventure Bot was pulled from shelves, and all copies suddenly disappeared off of the shelves, weren't even available to buy, not even used, on the Internet. I heard it from, like, six different gaming nerds. I get it." She rolled her eyes teasingly.
Chuck bit his lip and wrinkled his nose. "It's really turning me on, hearing you talk about the Apache Adventure Bot conspiracy. Just so you know."
Sarah cracked up and shoved at his head with one hand. And he responded by diving in and hugging her again.
"God, I love you so much," he exclaimed, the weight of the game he'd coveted for decades in his fingers. "I love you so, so much. This is the best, most unexpected thing anyone's ever done for me. Oh my God…"
She giggled and squeezed him. "I'm glad it's the right thing."
He pulled back and cupped her face, smushing the game up against her cheek, which caused her to make a face. "You're the right thing," he drawled, and then he moved in to kiss her as she laughed into mouth, her shoulders shaking. He hummed and broke the kiss, nuzzling her nose. "What in the hell made you decide to do this? I mean, you're crazy for even attempting… Did Morgan warn you? Did he tell you how crazy it was to try to get this game?"
"He tried. But he knows me well enough to know I love a good challenge. Anyway, where you failed all these years, I knew I'd succeed because I'm a much better detective than you are." She winked. "This was easy enough for someone who spent six years as a Pinkerton detective."
"You're so freaking impressive and hot," he said through a clenched jaw.
She blushed, grinning hard. And he was so in love with her, it hurt his chest a little.
"How'd you get this? Seriously. I mean, every single attempt I made to locate a copy, even offering people a freaking fortune for it, I just couldn't get it anywhere. It became my white whale."
Sarah laughed at that. "Oh my God, that's melodramatic. Only you would get this way about a video game."
"I know, huh?" he said through a proud smirk.
Snorting, she shook her head, idly playing with his curls just above the nape of his neck. It sent a nice shiver through him. "I enlisted Adisa's help."
Chuck's eyes widened then, immediately thinking about that afternoon in his office. "You two!" He gasped and pulled back, pointing at her with the game. "When I found you both looking at your laptop, you were conspiring, weren't you?"
She shrugged innocently. "Maybe we were."
"You lied!"
"For a good reason! Anyway, it wasn't entirely a lie. We did talk about his ex-girlfriend. We just…also happened to make a plan to go to the Buy More that weekend so he could introduce me to your old coworkers and get them to help me out in my quest."
Chuck gawked at her. "Okay, first of all, you called it a quest so if you're looking to get laid this morning, the odds are extremely high." She raised an eyebrow and pursed her lips in amusement. "Secondly, YOU WENT TO THE BUY MORE?" he exclaimed, making her wince. He gave her an apologetic look, not meaning to yell in her face. "Sorry. I just…that place has so many…scarring memories for me and I really cannot believe you…" Something occurred to him then. "Oh. Oh, no. No, you went to the Buy More. The Burbank Buy More? Oh God, I'm so sorry. Jeff and Lester weren't there, were they? You had to—Oh no, did they harass you? They did, didn't they? Did Jeff try to smell you? I'll literally kill him. I will go there right now and strangle him with his own grey tie. I fucking will…"
Sarah gave him a wide-eyed look. "Whoa, okay. No murder, please. It's fine. I think I probably met…all of your old coworkers. They're…" She winced. "Yes, he did try to sniff me or something, but I made certain he'd never try that shit again and it made him and that Lester pipsqueak think I was Terminator."
Chuck didn't even know how to react to that. But his eyes rolled to the back of his head. "You're gonna think I'm a weirdo, I know it, but you've gone this far with me and you haven't sprinted away from this relationship screaming yet, so… Could you…Could you just describe what you did to make them think that? Please?"
He might literally combust on the spot.
"I grabbed him by the shirt and practically lifted him off the floor by it." She demonstrated in the air.
Chuck moaned, lifting his fist to his mouth and biting down on it. "I'd sell my soul to the Devil to see that. Oh my God, you must've scared him so bad."
Sarah gave him a weirded out look. "You nerds have issues. Really."
"But you like this particular issue a whole lot, Sarah Walker."
"Oh, I'm not denying that."
He beamed with his tongue between his teeth. "So they helped you get your hands on a copy of Apache Adventure Bot, huh?"
She nodded. "It was actually pretty sweet. They did it for you more than for me. You're like…their hero. Sincerely. They kept calling you a legend. They literally dropped everything they were doing." She gave him a quiet smile then, dropping her hand on his forearm and stroking her thumb over his skin there affectionately. "There didn't even seem to be anything bitter or spiteful in it. They genuinely look up to you, like you. As absolutely…bizarre and, um, honestly a little unnerving as they all are." He chuckled. "You must've been an incredible coworker."
Chuck was touched by that. He smiled warmly. "They were really difficult to work with five days a week, eight hours a day. As I'm sure you can understand."
"I don't get how you even survived that without some real mental health deterioration. Seriously. I couldn't do an hour without wanting to put my head through that damn Nerd Herd desk."
He barked out a laugh. "Meditation," he admitted. "And imagination."
"Imagination?" she asked, raising an eyebrow questioningly.
"Yeah, sometimes the only thing that could get me through Jeff and Lester being around was if I imagined them blasting off into space on a ship, the two of them just talking to one another until they burn up in the sun."
She cracked up. "Jesus, Chuck!"
"See? Not as much of a saint as you think."
"No, you are not a saint. You're perfectly human, which is just…perfect."
He smiled, and then he realized she'd been to the Buy More, which had meant… "Skip." She blinked in confusion. "Was a guy named Skip Johnson there when you and Adisa went? Which reminds me, I'll be docking that little punk's pay by two cents an hour for this dereliction of duty."
She rolled her eyes at him. "Yeah, Skip was the first one Adisa took me to. Wait, why the hell wasn't that guy talking? He gestured or typed it out in his phone."
"He took a silence pledge when we were both high schoolers at the Buy More. I dunno if anybody really remembers what for… At this point, I'm not sure even he knows." He shrugged. "But he kept to it."
"Bizarre…"
"Yep!" He nodded with wide eyes. "It's all bizarre. But when you dig down deep enough, they're good people. They're loyal."
"I noticed. They bent over backwards when they found out I was trying to get this for you." She tapped the game with her finger. He just smiled at her, the smile slowly growing as he thought back to a mere two years earlier. Sarah Walker, lead Pinkerton detective sent to find out who was gunning for his dad, had sat across from him a mere handful of days earlier. The picture of professionalism, focused, determined, but open at the same time…receptive and patient.
She'd been so easy to look at, but more than anything, he'd been so impressed by her. And when he'd burst out of his office's side door into the hallway a few days later, he'd nearly knocked her flat on her ass. And any intention he'd had of speeding to the Buy More for Apache Adventure Bot had filtered out of his mind. Even then, everything had taken a backseat to Sarah Walker.
"What?" she asked, furrowing her brow dubiously.
"D'you know, Skip probably had a bit of déjà vu when you showed up at the Buy More for help…" He wiggled the game between them. She frowned at him in question and he smirked a little. "I know you specifically never went there to ask for help before, but, um…I did." He laughed. "If only you knew."
Sarah scooted a little closer. "Knew what?"
"This. This game. Apache Adventure Bot." He chuckled again, shaking his head.
"What?" she prompted, nudging his leg under the covers.
He crawled out. Maybe it was the fact that he was sort of trapped under them with the way she sat on the edge of the bed, or maybe her sheet and duvet felt like a barrier between them… He didn't know, but either way, he wanted to be free from it. Moving in close, he leaned his legs against her back and wrapped his arm around her torso, pulling her in against his chest and kissing her temple.
"You're gonna laugh." She gave him another dubious look, shifting her weight so that she could rest her cheek on his knee. "A few years ago, I tasked Skip, my old coworker in the Buy More Nerd Herd, with letting me know if Apache Adventure Bot was making a comeback or if he caught a scent of it in the crazy gaming industry circles he somehow has gotten himself inside of." He shook his head in awe. "Well, he caught more than a scent. He texted his brother Norman… Norman in B.E.C.'s IT department.." Sarah lifted her head and gave him a blank look. Chuck winced. "Right. You don't know the names of all of my employees. Makes sense."
"Frankly, Chuck, it's insane that you seem to."
"I try. But that's beside the point," he rushed when she smiled at him. "Norman called me, said his brother Skip, my old coworker, sent him an encoded text about Apache Adventure Bot. Three 1990 editions in mint condition were found and the store was putting them on the floor for an exorbitant amount of money. Granted, Skip could've been fired, but… that text to his brother being encoded saved his ass." He shook his head. "Anyway, freaking Karl called me about promoting our updated reader tablet and wouldn't shut up. I finally got him off the phone and I had maybe…ten minutes to get to my old work and get my hands on one of them before they were gone. Maybe that much. Probably not. But I was ready to violate all the traffic laws to get there and buy one of those copies of Apache Adventure Bot."
"But you didn't." She furrowed her brow. "What happened?"
"I grabbed my car keys and threw open my office door into the hallway, not looking where I was going at all. And I ran right into a Pinkerton detective." Her eyes began to widen and he knew she was starting to catch on. "Like, physically plowed into her. Poor woman had only met me maybe like two or three days before that, and she was just trying to find out who wanted to murder my dad…"
Her jaw fell open, her blue eyes sparkling in amusement. "No way…"
"Way." He chuckled. "It was like the game didn't even exist anymore. Just like that." He snapped his fingers, and then he pulled her in a little tighter, giving her an affectionate squeeze. A grin was spreading over her face.
"You offered to take me to your PR department across town," she said. "When you had Apache Adventure Bot—the game you'd coveted your whole life basically—waiting for you at the Buy More."
"I did." He nodded. "But I also had you standing right in front of me. And the prospect of sitting next to you in LA traffic for a good half hour or so…" He gave her a toothy grin. "That was really hard to resist."
She opened her mouth to say something, and then she just laughed, like he thought she would. "That is crazy! No wonder you exploded out of your office like a bat out of hell," she exclaimed. "Oh my God, it makes so much sense now. I just thought you were a basket case then, but I get it now."
"I mean, I'm still a basket case."
Sarah giggled, then snatched the game up and looked at it again, awe in her face this time. "You'd only known me for maybe two days. Wait…three? Four at the most."
"Yup." He gave her a dreamy smile.
"And you chose sitting in traffic with me over this?" She held Apache Adventure Bot up. "Even then? When you didn't know me…"
"Yup."
He watched as the implications sank in, and she took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, her eyes never leaving his. She blushed then, and finally ducked her head a bit shyly. "What could I have possibly done at that point of our acquaintance to prompt you to do that?"
"I don't really know," he said quietly, slipping his hand under her camisole she'd slept in, stroking her bare hipbone with his thumb. "It was kind of autopilot. I just knew that I was really, really glad that Karl had called me and put me off for five minutes, because if I'd left to go get that game… Sure, I'd have a copy of Apache Adventure Bot, but I also would've missed seeing you. And I wouldn't have had you climbing into the passenger seat of my car to sit in traffic with me andI wouldn't have gotten to talk to you." He nudged her with his shoulder. "Be honest. Even then, there was…something. I can't be the only one who felt like there was a pull or something."
Sarah bit her lip and nodded. "Let's put it this way. None of the other recordings I took of first interviews with a new client contain me flirting with said new client. Just yours. And I also, um, might have…kept a copy of it. Not by accident."
"Wow…" he breathed, shaking his head. "That's really corny."
"Shut the hell up!" she laughed, smacking his shoulder as he giggled. "You chose me over the one thing you wanted most in your whole life after only knowing me for a few days and maybe only having two or three conversations at the most with me, okay? You're the biggest cornball there is." She beamed then and just shook her head down at the game. "That is so crazy. Two years later, I sort of…made up for making you miss out on this, huh?"
"Out of control," he breathed, moving his hand from her hip to brush her hair back from her face almost a little reverently.
"I never even knew this thing existed until two weeks ago."
Chuck made a decision not to say it out loud, but he felt like some higher power, something in the stars, the cosmos, whatever…had brought Sarah Walker, Pinkerton detective, across his path. They'd come across one another's paths… their respective existences meeting at the perfect juncture, the perfect time. And they'd fought to be right here, at this moment.
Sarah'd put herself in a potentially unsafe (though not really) and definitely uncomfortable situation at the Buy More to get this game for him now, two years after he'd ditched out on his opportunity to get it to instead spend time with her. And she hadn't even known the significance of it except that her boyfriend really wanted this video game.
She was everything.
And as he leaned in to kiss her, encircling her torso with both of his arms, Chuck silently decided he was going to work for this every day of the rest of his existence, no matter what life threw in their way. He'd work for it.
Sarah smirked against his lips, his only warning before her hand flattened on his chest and shoved him down against the bed, climbing on top of him. He opened his eyes just in time to see her toss the game to the side. It bounced precariously close to the edge of the bed and he reached out with a yelp. "Don't! Don't throw the—!"
She winced, stopping. "Crap. Sorry."
It just laid there on the edge of the bed as she clambered over to grab the game and carefully set it out of danger on her nightstand. "Sorry," she breathed again. "There."
Chuck blinked, a grin widening on his face. And then she pulled her shirt off in one quick move, and all thoughts of Apache Adventure Bot fled from his mind. Again.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
A/N: Thanks for reading this arc. Please review. I really appreciate it!
-SC