A/N: I'm a bit overwhelmed at the response to the first chapter. Thanks for all the reviews, favs and follows, and the likes and comments on the Chuck Fanfiction Facebook group post. I really appreciate them all.

Thanks to Capt LiL for continuing to beta this for me.

So, Chuck and Sarah have met and he will be bringing takeout to her place for their first date. Or did their first meeting count as a date and this will be their second? It's always confusing with these two…

I should have mentioned that this is set in the present time, although they are the ages they were back in the canon pilot.

That Christmas Spirit

Chapter 2: Takeout

Sarah was on desk duty thanks to her ankle. Boring as hell for an active woman like her. Consequently, she was in a foul mood when she got home. Being dependent on Zondra to get her there, or the alternative being taking a taxi, soured it further.

When the two of them got to their shared apartment, Zondra immediately headed into the bathroom to shower, saying she was going out on a date with the guy she met at the club. She suggested Sarah get takeout. That made the blonde remember her own date for the evening. "Er, actually, I've got a date tonight, too."

Zondra's jaw dropped. "You? A date?"

That irritated Sarah. "I've dated before!"

Zondra gave her a 'seriously' look. "Not for at least a year."

That made Sarah stop and think. It had been almost exactly a year since Bryce had dumped her for being so miserable when Christmas approached.

"And you've invited him here? Don't jump him, Blondie. Your ankle's not up to it!" With that Zondra closed and locked the bathroom door, just in time because a cushion hit the door a second later.

Sarah sat, and the realization of the mess she'd gotten herself into hit her. The night before, she'd been happy, uncaring and more than willing to see Chuck again.

Now, she was hit with the reality of it all. She was having a man come to her apartment for a date. That was a big thing in itself, but on top of that was her mood from the day, compounded with her normal grouchiness at this time of year, her anti-Christmas state that alienated people.

She liked Chuck and thought she'd like to see more of him, but she was probably going to ruin that tonight, unless she could curb her moodiness.

Sarah looked at her watch. She only had around forty-five minutes before Chuck would arrive, bearing food from the East. In that time, she needed to tidy the place, including washing up from breakfast, decide what to wear, shower and make herself look presentable. Shit!

She looked at the dining room. Coffee mugs still on the table from last night and breakfast, along with a bowl from her cereal. Zondra hadn't come home last night, so the morning mess was all Sarah's.

She grabbed the items from the table and hobbled through to the kitchen. They'd not washed up after dinner last night, so all that was in the sink waiting to be washed.

Both of them were normally much tidier than this, but Zondra had been desperate to get to the nightclub.

There was no way that Sarah was up to washing up with her ankle as it was. She groaned as she added the additional dirty dishes to those already in the sink.

She grabbed a cloth and wiped the kitchen surface. A token gesture towards cleanliness.

She went back into the living room and collected up the work papers Zondra had scattered on the coffee table and put them on the surface to the side. She'd ask Zondra to take that away before she left. Then she also collected up the magazines strewn all over the table and the couch.

She looked at the room. It looked okay. Probably could do with the dust wiping off the surfaces, but there was no way she was going to do that.

She headed into her bedroom to choose clothes. The temptation to wear all black was creeping over her, something that matched the darkness of her feelings about Christmas.

Chuck was just staring into his wardrobe. What the hell should he wear to go on the date? He knew dressing up was inappropriate, which was just as well because he hated that, and all he had was his dad's old stuff anyway. A t-shirt seemed too far the other way, unless covered.

He finally decided to wear his best jeans, a t-shirt, and a button-up to hide that. He hoped that would look right for this date at her place.

At her place. He felt honored to be going to her apartment before they were really dating. He knew she'd implied that last night was a date, but he knew it wasn't really. Just their first encounter.

God, that sounded bad, even in his own head. "Encounter at Nightclub." It sounded like a Star Trek episode!

This date was important, though. He needed to impress her, because he really, really liked her.

He stopped to think about the woman he'd met. She had the most beautiful eyes he'd ever seen. They'd drawn him in more than anything. When he managed to expand his vision, he saw the most perfect face.

His sister had told him before that he had a tendency to fall for girls far too quickly, citing Cindy from school, and, of course, Jill from college. She was right, of course, but neither of those had affected Chuck as quickly as Sarah had.

If he didn't mess this up, could he have found "the one," the mythical perfect person for him? He shook his head to try to dispel such a crazy thought.

Time for a shower before getting dressed and heading out.

"Wow, didn't expect to see you in a dress for a date," Zondra said on seeing her just before she headed out.

Sarah had managed to wash herself and only then had time to grab a dress to throw on. She still had her makeup to do.

"I know you've got great legs normally, Blondie, but the bandage around your ankle spoils the effect a bit."

Sarah let Zondra's words wash over her. She was determined to at least seem happy when Chuck turned up, and the blue dress matched her eyes. The fact that it didn't reach her knees was something she was currently trying to ignore. "Chuck knows I have a bad ankle. He won't mind," she replied. However, a niggling doubt was starting to set in.

"I'll be staying out again," Zondra said. "I really like Mike… and his bed."

"You're starting to take after Red," Sarah said with a grin.

"Hey! You might tonight, oh 'date at home' girl." Zondra grinned. "Be careful with that ankle," she threw over her shoulder as she left.

Sarah huffed at that suggestion. She and Chuck weren't going to be doing anything like that. She'd never been like that, even at college. Zondra did occasionally, like she obviously had with this Mike guy, and Carina… god, Red must've worked through the whole male population on campus during her time there!

Sarah was the cautious one, and yet she'd still managed to make poor choices of boyfriends. Bryce had seemed right for her, she'd thought, but his expectations were for a girl not to have any issues for him to contend with.

Sarah pushed all thoughts of past mistakes to the back of her head. Tonight was just two people who enjoyed each other's company having a good time together. Think happy, she told herself, but was still unsure that it would work out that way.

She spotted Zondra's papers and realized that she'd not mentioned them. She quickly grasped them and took them to Zondra's bedroom. She ignored the mess and dropped the papers on the bed, still preoccupied with worries about the date.

The doorbell rang and she hobbled over to answer it, with very low expectations and a frown on her face.

When Chuck finally reached Sarah's apartment, he decided he should've taken the elevator rather than walked up the stairs. He knew he wasn't fit, but standing here puffing wasn't going to be a good first impression for the evening. However, he'd not wanted the food to get cold and had run up the stairs.

He knew she'd not be quick getting to the door, so felt safe knocking after a short while. He was sure he'd catch his breath before she got to it.

All thoughts of breathing disappeared from his head when Sarah opened the door. He normally would only look at someone's face, but he was still looking down trying to get his breathing under control as the door opened.

He slowly scanned up from her pumps to her face. Her blue dress exposed long bare calves. She had one ankle bandaged, but that didn't detract from her beautiful legs in any way at all. The dress she wore was sleeveless and v-cut. The color matched her gorgeous eyes, as did her eye shadow.

"God, you're stunning!" he blurted out without thinking.

She'd been frowning, but that cleared as he spoke. "Hello to you too, Chuck, and thank you." Then she added, "I know the bandage sets it off, but that accessory won't be there for long."

He laughed and raised the package he was carrying. "You ordered Chinese, My Lady."

She ushered him in, saying, "Thank you, Kind Sir."

He spotted the table and took the food there, slightly quicker than she could make it.

"Would you like wine or beer?" she asked.

"I shouldn't," he replied. "I'm driving."

"You could crash here," she replied, then frowned again.

He frowned as well. She wasn't suggesting anything, but he asked, "I thought you said you shared the apartment with your friend. Won't she be surprised to find me on your couch?"

Sarah's frown cleared. "She's not coming back tonight."

"What was your frown about?" he asked.

"I thought you might think I was suggesting…" She trailed off and blushed.

He grinned at her embarrassment. "After your comments about men at the nightclub, I wasn't thinking you had lured me into your web."

She laughed. "You were probably thinking about spiders and flies, but I then remembered what my mood tonight made me think of wearing."

"Which was?" he prompted.

"I had a bad day at work, so my first thought was all black," she confessed.

He cottoned on quickly. "Oh, so a black widow spider, huh?"

She grinned and nodded.

"I'd die happy," he said and then blushed himself, but was pleased at how she laughed, at least he thought he was.

It was almost as if they decided together that this flirtation had gone far enough. They both turned to the food and started pulling the boxes out of the bag. Sarah was surprised at how much he'd brought. She looked at him questioningly and he explained without having to be asked, "I didn't think to ask what you wanted, so I bought a choice."

"I'm easily pleased," she said. "I just like chow mein."

Chuck tightened his lips to stop his mouth from responding. However, super-observant Sarah Walker noticed. "What? Out with it!"

He wasn't going to lie, but it was embarrassing to have to tell her. "I'm sorry. My brain sometimes goes places that others shouldn't know."

"Well, you're gonna have to tell me now!"

He sighed. "You said you're easily pleased and I thought about you agreeing to see me again."

She just stared at him for a few moments and then replied, seriously, "I meant with food. My friend would laugh at that because it's so far from the truth with other things. I think it's your lack of self-belief making you think that."

He couldn't hold her gaze after that. He hated being so transparent. He avoided the chow mein, and put rice and orange chicken onto his plate. When he stopped, Sarah grabbed his wrist, making him look up at her. "I'm very choosy with guys."

He smiled at her. "Thank you for that, Sarah. I've not had much luck in the past."

She smiled back. "You know you're gonna have to tell me about that, don't you?"

He immediately shook his head. "No way. That's what puts girls off!"

"Says who?" she challenged.

"My sister points it out to me, when she sees all the girls she brings to my birthday parties. Their eyes glaze over. Some even just walk away while I'm still talking."

She held his gaze, making him start to feel uncomfortable. "Their loss," she finally said, before eating some noodles.

Just watching her with her chopsticks was mesmerizing. How could someone make eating look so sexy?

"Sorry. Probably have noodles hanging out of my mouth, don't I?" she said, self-consciously..

"No, you're fine," he replied, making himself look away.

A smile grew on her lips. "You like watching me eat noodles?"

He blushed, but confessed, "It's sexy."

She grinned. "You're easily pleased." The sparkle in her eyes was noticeable.

He grinned back. "That's what they all say."

She chuckled and shook her head, then obviously decided to continue. "Hence picking up a girl with a bad ankle."

He couldn't resist. "Oh, that's because you couldn't run away as fast as all the other girls."

She had been about to pop some more food in her mouth when he said that, but laughed instead. "You're going to have to stop making me laugh or I'll never manage to eat my dinner."

Chuck agreed to hold back the humor. Sarah suggested a different topic, "Go on. Tell me what your sister says that ran off these girls, but I also want to know about her parties."

He groaned, but told her. "At college, I was in a relationship and I thought she was 'the one.' I was even planning on proposing after our finals, but she chose to sleep with my roommate. She became just another of his college conquests."

She put down her chopsticks and looked sympathetically at him. "That's awful."

He nodded. "It was. It threw me completely and I couldn't face staying there."

"You didn't take your exams?" she asked.

Sighing, he replied, "No, I didn't. So, I left with no degree… or girlfriend."

She guessed what next. "And no confidence around girls, I presume."

He looked down at his food and didn't feel he needed to reply.

"And the parties?" Sarah prompted.

He groaned. "Ellie has been on at me to get over Jill ever since. On my birthdays, she arranges a party each year and invites women from the hospital to come. She seems to expect me to impress one of them, and is always disappointed in me when I don't."

Sarah groaned on hearing that. "Oh god. Being subjected to that sounds awful too."

He grinned. "Well, you're being subjected to it right now!"

She rolled her eyes. "I meant you being subjected to doing that."

"I know," he replied. "I was just joking." He thought about those parties. "However, girls didn't like hearing me telling them how long it had been since I dated, or how much I missed Jill."

She leaned forward. "How long has it been?"

He blushed. "Five and a half years."

She looked surprised. "And do you still miss her?"

He honestly hadn't thought about Jill since the club. "Not anymore," he honestly replied looking at the reason.

There was something about Chuck Bartowski. All her doubts about the date went out of the window with the first words he spoke. It was ridiculous, but he seemed to just put her at ease.

Not wanting to talk about herself, Sarah had encouraged Chuck to talk instead. She also found him and his experiences fascinating. This Jill had really messed with his head to have caused him to drop out of college like that. And his sister wasn't having it, but oh so interfering! Never having had a sibling, she didn't know if that was typical, but she suspected not.

When he mentioned that girls at the parties didn't like hearing how much he'd missed Jill, she felt a twinge of that too, and had to ask if that was still the case. After all, she was on a date with him.

The way Chuck looked at her when he replied, "Not anymore," told her very clearly that she had taken his affections and Jill was not competition. That gave her a warm feeling. Then she realized that her usual Christmas bad mood had receded.

"You look surprised," Chuck said. "You shouldn't be."

She refocused on him. "Nice though they are, you really should stop the compliments. I'll get big-headed."

He chuckled, then got serious. "I'm guessing they weren't what had you looking surprised."

"Well, a statement like that is a nice surprise," she said, but then decided it was her turn to own up. "I don't like Christmas and am not good to be around at this time of year. The surprise was how much I'm enjoying myself."

He blinked. "You don't like Christmas?"

She shook her head. "No happy memories associated with it."

He obviously put two and two together. "You split up with your last boyfriend last Christmas." She nodded. "And previous boyfriends?"

She nodded but hadn't explained why, so his next question was, "What do I have to avoid doing in order to keep you as a girlfriend?" Such a lovely thing for him to ask.

"It was me that caused it each time," she confessed. "My moodiness drags people down."

He looked genuinely confused. "You haven't been moody."

She chuckled. "Ask Zondra when you see her."

"I thought she wasn't coming home," he said.

"And you're not leaving," she reminded him. "So, you'll meet her in the morning."

"I think I should leave," he replied.

She didn't like that and frowned. "Trying to spoil my mood?"

He huffed. "Trying not to get ideas," he said.

That cheered her up. "Oh, and what ideas might those be?" she teased.

"I'm not saying," he replied, but a smile definitely crept across his face.

She grinned. "Zondra's last words as she left were for me to be careful with my ankle. Why'd you think she said that?"

He choked and then said, "Last time, and admittedly it was over five years ago, ankles were not involved."

She choked this time. "Are we really having this conversation?"

"Hey. You started it!"

She sighed. "I guess I did. Sorry."

"And put those thoughts into my head," he complained, but didn't look too upset.

"And what about the ones you put in my head?" she said. "Ankles in the air!"

He looked uncomfortable, so she asked, "Shall we talk about something else?"

"Please," he responded. He seemed to think for a moment or two, then said, "I didn't know if you might want to watch a movie after dinner."

"Sounds nice," she replied. "But I don't really want to go out."

"I brought a selection of DVDs," he responded.

Now, that was different. "What did you bring?"

"Well, I didn't know about your dislike of Christmas, so I brought the greatest Christmas movie, but we can ignore that one."

"Oh god! You're gonna have to tell me which one."

He completely surprised her. "Die Hard."

She frowned. "Doesn't sound Christmassy."

He grinned. "Terrorists take several people hostage during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles. A cop's estranged wife is one of them and he tries to save them, but specifically her, when he arrives from New York."

She saw how much his eyes lit up describing it. "I don't normally like cop movies," she said.

"Oh, this is nothing like a cop movie," he quickly replied.

If she was honest, she wanted to see him watch it. It really seemed to excite him. "Okay. We'll watch the terrorists try to spoil Christmas," she joked. Then she remembered how many she'd ruined and had to squash those thoughts.

He grinned. "You might have to hold my hand through the scary parts."

"That'll be the hand that isn't holding my shoulder. You'll have your arm around me." He looked happily surprised. "Well, it is a date, remember."

"Think I might even get a kiss?" he asked. He was smiling as he said that.

"If the movie selection passes muster," she replied, trying to look serious, even though she was grinning inside.

"Don't let me down, Bruce," he muttered.

There was something very comforting about having his arm around her and leaning into his warmth as they watched the movie.

In fact, to Sarah, Chuck seemed to be a very warm guy, in every sense of the word. He also made her feel good about herself, more than other men had. Sure, they'd complimented her, but it always seemed to be just what was expected of them, whereas he seemed to really mean the words he said.

The movie was fun, too. Totally unrealistic, but fun. This John McClane could get up from anything he suffered and just continue. The glass he'd had in his feet would stop anyone from continuing. It made her think about her ankle. She knew she could continue, even with that, but rules and regulations stopped her. Of course, McClane wasn't acting as a policeman in this film, but as some sort of superhero rescuer.

She wondered what it would be like to have someone who loved her as much as McClane obviously loved his ex-wife. Or if the roles were reversed, could she love someone that much? Even though they hardly knew each other, the way Chuck was gently holding her left arm with his left hand, and her right hand with his, felt better than men she'd dated for weeks. Even Bryce, who'd been with her for two months, never made her feel as good as this.

When the movie finished, Chuck nervously asked, "What did you think?"

She shifted and leaned into his embrace to give him a kiss. A long, lingering kiss. She'd kissed him before and he'd thought about her lips on his ever since, but this kiss was even better.

He still had his arm around her, and he planted his hand between her shoulders and pulled her closer. Her hands cupped his face as she kissed him.

She pulled away and he gasped. "Wow! You must've enjoyed it!" he said.

She looked as dazed at the kiss as he was. "I did enjoy it, but I was waiting to kiss you for the last hour."

"Was I worth the wait?" he asked, still somewhat breathless.

She gave him a sly look. "Might have to try it again to see."

He crashed his lips onto hers. She'd just given him reason to do that. Her lips were so sensuous, they were easily the best lips he'd ever kissed and he wanted more of them.

When he pulled away, she muttered, "Yippee-ki-yay!"

He was surprised. "A quote from the film!"

She nodded happily and obviously thought about what she'd watched. "The most Christmassy part of the film was the words written on that man's shirt," she drily commented.

He grinned. "Now I Have A Machine Gun, Ho-Ho-Ho."

She grinned back. "I did like that. There were some things that didn't seem right, though."

"Such as?"

"The secret to surviving flying is to take shoes and socks off after flight, and make fists with your toes? Weird!"

Chuck nodded. "I think that was only to make him bare-footed throughout the film."

She shuddered. "Walking on that glass would've shredded his feet. He would not be able to walk after that."

"He'd do anything to save the woman he loved," Chuck replied.

She looked at him curiously. "Would you?"

That caught him by surprise. "I'm not a tough cop like he is, so I'd probably wimp out."

She chuckled. "Like me limping out."

"What else?" he asked.

"That guy walking across the top of the table with John underneath. We could all see his target and he could've shot him easily."

"Yeah. But then McClane wouldn't have been able to say, 'Thanks for the advice.'"

"So, you're saying that a lot of the events were just there to support the one-liners?" she asked.

"No, but they were good, weren't they?" he responded.

She grinned. "I like the bit where the reporter asked for her feelings and she clocked him. And the driver saying, 'If this is their idea of Christmas, I've gotta be here for New Year's.'"

He laughed. "So, not too Christmassy for you, then?"

She smiled. "Action, humor and most of the cops weren't portrayed too badly. And, as you say, not too Christmasy. Yes, a good film, even if what he continued through was unrealistic." She started to get up and asked, "I'm getting us some drinks. What other films have you brought?"

"Let's look before you go and then I'll set up the one you choose."

He pulled over his bag and she started rummaging through. She pulled one out and looked curiously at it. "Krampus?"

He frowned. "I didn't put that in there." Then he thought about dropping in to the Buy More on his way to get the dinner. "Lester!"

"Lester?" she asked.

"A guy at the Buy More. He knew I was bringing DVDs on a date and must've slipped this one in. It's still sealed up."

"It looks dark, like my feelings about Christmas," she said. She fluttered her eyelashes at him. "Can we watch it?"

She already knew he couldn't resist her, otherwise she wouldn't have looked at him like that. He exaggerated a sigh and said, "Oh, alright."

That earned him a kiss before she headed into the kitchen.

Sarah was glad she'd snuggled up with Chuck as Krampus progressed. Not only that, the way he clutched onto her suggested he wasn't great with horror films, even one this lighthearted.

She had her head in the crook of his neck, but lifted away to look up at him. "It's alright, Chuck," she murmured. "I'll protect you."

They both grinned. "Thank you, Sarah, my protector."

She rested back down against him and focused on the movie. It was a strange mixture of a broken family, with kids that were horrible to each other, and the horror of the Krampus creatures, although nothing really gruesome happened, the ever present humor was there in the background, but not as much as in the "Die Hard" movie.

Nothing really made Sarah jump, but she could feel the tension of something being about to happen. That was also affecting Chuck, hence her comment.

It was a fun movie, but some parts reminded her of her past, which took the edge off. The broken family being just the start. She and her dad had abandoned her mom when Sarah was just seven. Those early years had seemed fun, but by the time she was twelve she had realized what they were doing was hurting people. The Christmas capers were the worst.

The comment in the movie that the villagers were all out for themselves stung. That was what she and her dad had been like. If this was real, would Krampus have been after the two of them back then. Neither of them deserved anything good happening to them.

With the ending approaching, it seemed that the darkness in the movie was creeping into her chest, tightening its grip on her heart.

As the credits started at the end of the movie, Sarah was left wondering what she could do to make up for all she'd done in the past.

She'd been lucky that her grandmother had taken her in, when her dad had been arrested. Sarah had only been fifteen years old. Sarah had lived with her grandmother in San Diego and gotten through high school and on to college at Cal State LA. Her degree in Criminal Justice felt ironic, but it got her into the LAPD, along with her friend from college, Zondra Rizzo.

She was trying to make up for her past with what she did in the police force. She hoped she was achieving that, but this movie reminded her of her misdeeds.

"Well, did you enjoy that?" Chuck asked her.

She had, in spite of this lingering gloominess. "Most of it," she replied. "I felt sorry for the dog, Rosie, though."

Chuck seemed totally confused by that. "Why?"

"When Howard called to her to help him, Rosie ran away. I didn't blame her, but she got called a useless turd for that. However, later she saved him and got called a good girl. He really was a mixed up guy."

"Wow. Focusing in on the dog," he chuckled.

"The whole thing made me feel a bit gloomy," she admitted. "We all do things we're not happy about later, especially when struggling. Are we all like those villagers?"

"That's too deep for me, Sarah," Chuck said.

"Welcome to my frame of mind," she replied.

"I need something stronger than beer after that," he commented.

"Are we gonna watch another movie?" she asked.

"Have a look through what I've brought," he said. "Or we could watch something of yours."

"I don't have any movies," she replied. "All we have are Zondra's and exercise videos." He gave her an open-mouthed, shocked look. "I'm not a movie person… normally," she explained.

"Have you seen any of the Star Wars movies?" he tentatively asked.

She shook her head. "I'll get out 'A New Hope,'" he advised. "You're in for a treat."

She chuckled and went and got them drinks.

A/N: They've not finished the date yet, but this is a good time to pause.

I had to rewatch both of those movies as research for the story, because I wanted to get any quotes correct. Watching Christmas movies in November felt odd, to say the least!

So, what are your favorite Christmas movies?