The Nerd Versus the P.I. Family
By Steampunk . Chuckster
A/N: Thanks for showing this story so much support. Kid fic is daunting as hell.
Summary: Sarah Walker has uprooted her life, leaving her job with the LAPD and going it alone as a private investigator, all in the hopes it provides her with less dangerous stakes and a schedule she can control so that she can handle her most important job, raising her toddler, a bit easier. But when the single parent thinks her computer might've been targeted by a criminal, she has to request help from the unlikeliest of sources: The Buy More Nerd Herd.
Disclaimer: I do not own CHUCK, I do not own its characters, I am not making money from posting this.
The second Sarah shut the door behind her, Carina was practically on top of her, grabbing her arm and tugging her close. "Okay, thumbs up or down?"
"On this conversation? Down."
"Stop it. You know what I mean. The date. How was it?"
Sarah shrugged. "Well, the date isn't over yet."
Carina's jaw practically unhinged, and then she smirked hard and Sarah rolled her eyes. She'd walked right into that, damn it. "Oh it iiiiisn't? What else is gonna happen before it ends, hmmmm?"
"Can you please stop doing this?" Sarah asked, seriously, rolling her eyes. She turned to face her best friend and gave her a flat look. "It feels like a lot of unnecessary pressure."
"I don't know what you mean," Carina said with an innocent flutter of her eyelashes. "You're the one who brought him up to your apartment, not me. I was fully prepared for you to walk in that door alone, Sarah Walker."
"Well, I didn't."
"Mhm. Exactly."
Sarah sighed. "Carina. I'm going to go back in there after you leave and I'm going to make some coffee and we're going to—"
"What are you going to do?" the redhead cut in.
"Talk," the blonde said emphatically. "Like we've been doing all night."
Carina made a face and sighed back. And then she gave her friend a good-natured nudge. "Fine, I'll stop teasing. In all seriousness, if you were to grade the night so far on a scale from one to ten, with ten being Best Date Ever, what's Chuckie's score?"
"Chuck," Sarah emphasized, "gets an eleven." Carina's eyes went wide. "Maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and think more on it and it'll get bumped to a twelve, I dunno."
"Shit, those are some high marks."
"Yep." The P.I. nodded. "High, indeed." And then she bit her lip and turned to look over her shoulder down the hallway towards the door they'd just left behind. She didn't know why she looked, like Chuck would be hovering there listening in on their conversation or something? "This is going to sound dumb to you, I know, but he just…gives a shit." Carina looked a little confused at that and Sarah gnawed on the inside of her mouth, thinking of a way to explain it better. "He cares about making a good impression. He cares about what I'm saying, like, actually listening to me and respecting the words that come out of my mouth."
"Well, that's refreshing," Carina groused.
"Exactly. I mean, he got his car washed today." The other woman narrowed her eyes dubiously. "He went out of his way to go and take his car somewhere to have it washed, he paid for it to be cleaned, so that he could pick me up for our date in a nice, clean car. I know how trivial and silly it sounds, but it's effort that makes me feel like he…gives a shit."
Carina bounced a shoulder. "Huh. Whodda thunk? All it takes to win fair lady's heart is a five dollar car wash."
Sarah glared halfheartedly. "Shut up. He hasn't won my heart. Stop being so freakin' intense. I didn't say it's a big deal. I understand it's a little thing, but I'm not used to guys doing…little things like that."
"Fair enough. Neither am I. Quick question, and then I'll let you get back to your Car Wash Champ." That earned her an unamused look. "I was looking for Lovey earlier when I was trying to put Max to bed and I found him on the counter...I put my Diet Coke there earlier and Lovey wasn't there then, and suddenly like magic, Lovey's there…"
"Oh. Yeah. I forgot to take Lovey out of my purse and I found it there in the car on the way to the restaurant, so Chuck doubled back for me to take it in. I couldn't let you deal with a Lovey-less attempt to get Max to sleep."
Carina blinked. "Thank you. I appreciate that. But you had your date turn the car around for a blankie? I could've made it work. You know how Max and I operate. I'm a pro."
"It wasn't me. I wasn't going to insist on it, but he did."
"He…as in Chuck."
"He as in Chuck. Yep."
Pursing her lips, the lawyer nodded and raised her eyebrows. "He turned the car around to come all the way back here so you could take Lovey home…"
"He insisted. I was upset because I knew it would be difficult for you to get Max to go to sleep without a tantrum if he didn't have Lovey, but I wasn't going to have him take me back just for that. And he just up and pulled a U-turn and took me back."
"Okay, I get it. I get why you brought him upstairs now. That was a pro-league move on his part. I have no choice but to respect his game." She tilted her head and nodded in awe. "Major props to the computer geek."
"He's more than just a computer geek."
"Is he? Firsthand knowledge, Walker?" She stuck her tongue in her cheek and raised her eyebrows.
"Oh, shut the hell up. You really don't quit, do you?"
"Nope," Carina cackled.
And for that, Sarah pressed the button calling the elevator, done with this conversation officially. "I have to get back in there or he'll think I was abducted."
"Nerd boy to the rescue?"
"Hey, you say that as if he didn't literally come to the rescue getting that shit off of my computer the other day, and then coming back with a tips to keep it from happening again. Tips I gave you."
"Yeah, that's fair. And he wrote it down in technologically-stupid-person speak so even I could handle following the instructions." Sarah laughed. "I guess that alone earns him an invite up after the date."
"I just like him." The elevator dinged and the doors opened. Sarah hadn't really meant for it to come out but it had. Carina watched her quietly, and they stayed standing there in silence for long enough that the doors slid shut again. "And I've been having fun tonight—like, I've had a really, really good time with him—so I guess I didn't want it to end just yet." She eyed Carina critically. "That doesn't mean something else is going to happen, where your oversexed brain automatically goes." Carina gasped in faux offense and then she bobbed her shoulder and nodded as if Sarah had a point, making the blonde giggle fondly.
"Okay fine, fiiiine." Carina huffed and rolled her eyes, then pressed the button again. The doors opened and she gave Sarah a hug before stepping into the elevator, bracing her hand on the frame to keep the doors from shutting. "But if the opportunity comes a'knocking, consider how long it's been since you got laid and please, for all our sakes, open up that door for that nice young man."
Sarah narrowed her eyes and pounced, but the doors slipped shut, her friend locked inside of the elevator safely, cackling. She smacked her hand against the elevator and growled. "Asshole," she muttered, smirking and shaking her head in spite of herself.
She hurried back to the apartment and opened the door, stepping inside to find Chuck sitting at the table, looking slightly rigid like he wasn't entirely comfortable with the situation. She shut the door behind her and smiled at him as he spun in the chair to look at her.
His brown eyes softened and he smiled.
"Hi," she said. He just smiled harder. "Um, sorry I took so long. Case stuff," she lied, and she felt a bit bad about it. But she didn't want to tell him it took so long because Carina wanted to know if she was having a good time on the date. Not just that, but the blatant command that she sleep with him tonight "for all our sakes".
The fucking brat.
Now it was weighing on her mind and she could feel herself blushing. Whether he was noticing it or not, she didn't know. But damn it, she couldn't get it out of her head and curse that redhead for doing this to her.
"Coffee?"
"Sure! Sure, if you're…positive I'm not…intruding. It's late, and I don't wanna…"
She shook her head, cutting him off with a wave of her hand through the air. "Nonsense. Unless it's late for you. I mean, if you have work in the morning, I don't want you to feel like you have to…"
"No, I'm…good. I'm good. I'd love coffee." He stood up from the chair. "Let me help you."
She walked backwards towards the kitchen. "No, sit. You're the guest."
But he followed her anyway. "Too late," he teased, smirking. "Already on my way. You have to find something for me to do now."
Sarah laughed and swung into the kitchen, going up into the cabinet to grab two mugs. She glanced at him over her shoulder, knowing the look on her face might be construed as flirtatious and not actually minding much. "Getting cute with me, huh?"
He chuckled. "If you say so."
She grinned in amusement and got to work, pulling the coffee machine a bit closer to her on the counter. Then she reached around it and plugged it in.
"You don't just leave it plugged in?" he asked, moving closer to her and leaning his hip against the counter.
"No, it's kind of old and I left it plugged in overnight once and it made the machine fritz really bad for two whole days. So I just plug it in when I'm gonna use it."
"What constitutes 'fritzing'?" he asked.
She snorted. "A couple of cold, not-quite-brewed cups of soupy coffee."
"So…a cold brew."
Sarah laughed. "Not a fan of cold brew?"
"It's not that I'm not a fan per se, it's just that it makes me wired as all get out." He shrugged. "Well, it did the one time I had it. I was a wild and crazy menace."
"Noooo… You?"
"Yes, me," he said, grinning. "I'd been up all night repairing old monitors for us to resell at the Buy More. Morgan felt bad for me and brought me an iced coffee but he mixed mine up with his girlfriend's at the time and she only drank cold brew."
"Oof." She smirked at him as she scooped the ground beans into the top of the machine. "Did Morgan survive the faux pas?"
"What do you mean, did Morgan survive? I felt like I'd just done ten lines of cocaine."
"I meant giving his girlfriend the wrong drink, with the way you emphasized she was his girlfriend at the time. And Jesus Christ, how much of it did you drink?" She giggled, filling the pot with water at the sink.
"It was the largest size. And Morgan survived to see the next day in that relationship because it was a simple enough mistake, but he didn't survive skipping a date they'd made because he got too caught up in an arcade battle at the pier." Sarah's jaw fell open and she gaped at him. He held his hands up defensively. "Don't look at me like that. I had nothing to do with it. I was working a shift at the Buy More and had no idea any of that was happening until the next day when I went to work again and found him still drunk in the cage of the Buy More."
Sarah laughed. "Oh, poor guy. How old were you two when that went down?"
"Oh, this was last week."
They both burst into laughter and he finally shook his head as she pressed the button to brew. "Nah, we were actually around twenty-two, three maybe."
"Um, I have another question for you," she said then, and as she tried to sweep past him to get to her fridge, he moved to get out of her way and instead put himself right in her path. She giggled as they both stepped in the same direction then, Chuck still blocking her path. And he finally flattened himself against the counter with a wince so that she could scoot past. She did, smirking up at him in amusement as he blushed. "The Buy More has a cage? Do you guys have, like, animals you keep in there?"
He chuckled. "Only Jeff Barnes, but we primarily save the cage for when he's been on one of his really bad benders." Sarah laughed and shook her head. She noticed the pleased look on his face and opened the fridge door, letting the cool air inside hit her right in the face as she reached up to grab both the milk and the half and half. She turned to face him and held both up. "Oh, um…however you take yours." She gave him a look. "Fine, the half and half." Giggling, she put the milk back and shut her fridge door, setting the carton on the counter. "The cage is actually what we call… Well, it's actually, yeah, it's a cage. It's typically where all of the weirdest shit goes down in the store. It's where we have gaming contests, where we plot world domination…" What? She gave him a raised eyebrow at that. He must've realized what he'd just said, and how dorky it had sounded, because he cleared his throat. "Uh, it's where we store computers and monitors and stuff like that, mostly if they're broken and need to be fixed. But I did lock Lester in there overnight once because he played a prank on me."
Sarah's jaw fell open. "You locked him in there for a whole night?"
"Yeah." He chuckled. "I know, it sounds bad. But I was only, like, a teenager at the time and I was having a rough go of it with my, erm…just…" He scratched the back of his head and shifted his weight. Then he seemed to change tack and continued. "I snapped, lured him in, trapped him, and didn't come back until early the next morning to let him out."
"The picture you're painting of that place makes me wonder if you ever get returning customers."
"Very few. We think they're sadists."
Sarah laughed and then eyed him closely. "Well, do I count as a returning customer?"
Chuck shook his head, a slow smile building on his handsome face. "No, what I do is kind of, like, a different department, so to speak. My office is just based there because that's the store I grew up in and I had a choice, but I'm not technically a part of the Burbank Buy More's, erm, staff. Big Mike isn't my boss…technically?"
"Is that…the manager? Big Mike?"
"Yep. I've worked around that big barking teddy bear for over ten years now, if you can believe that. On and off." She raised her eyebrows. "I know. Kinda depressing, I haven't moved on to something better in ten years but I'm, um, I'm…working on my five-year plan. So…"
She shook her head and furrowed her brow at him. "No, that wasn't what I was thinking. Look, you're the…area specialist? Is that what the business card you gave me says?" He nodded. "That sounds to me a lot like moving on to something better. Give yourself a break."
He smiled mutely and nodded. The coffee machine beeped then and she broke his gaze to go grab the coffee pot and start pouring. She heard him clear his throat. "No, you're right. I've moved up a bit in the business. I've got my own place, my own car. It's something." She spotted the teasing look on his face then. "But you're still not a returning customer. If anything, I was the one who ended up returning."
She felt something throb behind her ribcage and she bit her lip, noticing he was blocking the silverware drawer. Again. Poor guy just couldn't stand in her kitchen without being in the way, could he? She gently patted at his hip with the back of her hand. "Spoons."
"Oh. Oh!" And then he moved to her other side so that she could pull the drawer out and grab two spoons.
"And yeah, you were the one doing the returning. Good point. I still don't quite know why when the job description doesn't require it." She smirked, pulling the half and half and the sugar bowl over.
"You don't?"
He asked quietly, his voice sounding a bit deeper than she was prepared for, and she slowly lifted her gaze to his. And for a moment, she saw a battle in his amber-colored eyes, as if he was making a decision, and then he must've made it, because he leaned in to kiss her.
She felt his hand slide over the small of her back, his front meeting her shoulder and arm as he stepped in close.
Sarah's hands fell away from the carton of half and half and the sugar bowl, clutching the edge of the counter instead. But then she sensed he might pull away and she turned almost desperately to face him and put her hands on his chest, sliding them up to his face. She held him against her, slipping one hand to the back of his neck, twisting her fingers in the slight curl of his hair at the nape of his neck, and she kissed him harder.
Chuck wrapped his arms around her, enveloping her, and she smiled against his lips. Before they could get much further, though, she felt something buzz near her hip. That was strange. She blinked her eyes open and pulled back slightly, their noses still touching. And she realized it must be his phone. "You need to get that?" she breathed, her lips brushing his.
"Mm'get what?" he muttered. But she didn't have to answer, amusement bubbling up to make her giggle as she watched him realize what she had a full ten seconds earlier. "Oh. Shit, I'm…sorry. Sorry." He cleared his throat and let go of her to shove his hand into his pocket to grab his phone. He turned it off completely. "If it's important, they'll leave a message."
"Well, it…is kind of late. Would anybody be trying to contact you this late if it wasn't important?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"You've never met Morgan Grimes," he said flatly. "I'm telling you right now, when I turn this back on, there will be a voicemail about some fight scene in some movie he's watching right now, and then two accompanying texts about whether the choreography met his standards or not." A look of fondness crossed his features then as he glanced to the side. "I could probably tell you what he's eating right now, too. Nutter-Butters, and he's washing them down with grape soda."
"Ew," she giggled.
"Yeeeeeah, that's my best bud."
She loved how he'd drawled that with so much affection, the way he'd just painted a picture for her of his best friend as a guy who seemed…interesting was a nice way to put it. But not once did he make apologies for the guy, or call him weird, or seem embarrassed by him.
And it made her feel that much more comfortable standing here with him in her kitchen. She felt more comfortable with him in general.
At the same time, the level of comfort she was feeling around him was making her slightly unsettled. Because this wasn't just about her. It could never be just about her. It would have to be about her and Max. They were a unit. And she maybe needed to calm the hell down jumping so quickly into this man, getting lost in how good it felt to be around him.
Sarah Walker couldn't afford to lose herself because she had someone else to take care of too.
So she took a subtle step back and nibbled on her lip, glancing over her shoulder in the direction of the hallway down which her son's bedroom was, with said son sleeping soundly in his bed…hopefully.
"You hear your son?" She whipped her head back around to give him a confused look. "I didn't—I didn't hear anything but I don't have Mom Hearing."
"Mom Hearing?" she repeated, grinning in amusement, lowering her chin and looking up at him through her eyelashes.
"Yeah. Yeah, isn't that a thing? It's like Batman's Bat Signal. Moms, like, hear their kids and rush to the rescue. And everyone else is standing around like 'I didn't hear anything'… Should I shut up? I should probably shut up."
Sarah laughed. He was incredibly cute, she had to hand it to him. Strange, but very, very cute. She genuinely didn't understand how his mind worked. And actually she loved that, which was completely different from what she would've expected.
"No, my Mom Hearing didn't pick up on anything." But she shifted her weight a little, wanting to check now, just in case. Max was typically a good sleeper once he actually fell asleep. He slept in until close to eight some mornings, and he rarely woke up in the middle of the night anymore. But she still itched to check. She'd been gone all night, after all. And Carina had gotten her so focused on talking about the date and Chuck that she'd neglected to ask if Max gave her any trouble after she left, if he felt left out, or was upset that she'd gone somewhere without him.
It was still a learning curve. Sometimes she thought he still expected her to be with and around him all of the time, which just wasn't possible. Other times, he was perfectly fine, like a big boy. And that brought a whole different set of emotions, didn't it?
"Sarah, you can go check on him. I won't be offended."
"Hm?" She glanced over her shoulder again and then turned back. "Oh. No, I'm…" But he had a flat look on his face, his lips pressed together in a knowing smile. "…totally see-through. Apparently." That was a first.
He chuckled. "You check on Max and I'll handle this. How much cream and sugar do you want in here?" He pointed to the mugs of black coffee.
Sarah blinked. She had half a mind to argue with him, to tell him she didn't need to check on him, and she was sure Max was completely fine, sound asleep. But she'd look even more ridiculous than she thought she probably already did.
Sighing, she nodded. "Maybe just a splash of the cream, and a pinch of sugar. Not too much. Thank you." She put a hand on his arm and squeezed.
Chuck smiled at her. "A splash and a pinch. Got it."
Giggling, she stepped away from him, biting her lip that still tingled from being pressed against his not a minute earlier. "I'll be right back."
"I'llllll beeee riiiiiight heeeeere." He poked at the air with one finger and she gave him a confused look. The glee in his features dimmed and he blinked. "E.T.? No? Oh, come on, Sarah."
She just laughed at him and shook her head, leaving him in the kitchen.
Honestly, this short trip to check on her son was necessary for more than just getting a glimpse of Max after all these hours being away from him. It put a few walls between her and Chuck Bartowski.
First of all so that she could take a moment in the hallway outside of her son's room to take a deep, deep breath and let it out slowly, before grinning up at the ceiling. Second, she needed a moment after that kiss.
She turned to her son's bedroom door that was slightly ajar and carefully peeked into the room. Carina had turned on his white noise machine and his nightlight was on as well, projecting comforting colors over his walls, cascading over his bed. He was totally out, on his back, his face turned towards her, his features slack. His hand that she could see was making a fist, his thumb sticking out as though he'd been sucking on it.
However, she also saw that Lovey had snuck through the bars around his bed and laid on the floor, so she crept as silently as possible into his room and picked the toy up, very carefully reaching over and setting it next to Max.
She took a moment to smile down at him, and saw that he'd brought two of the elephant stickers into his bed with him, the same ones Chuck had given Max when he came to pick Sarah up for their date.
Deciding not to explore that development too much, as he really, really did love elephants, Sarah crept back out of her son's room, her heart hammering against her ribcage.
}o{
He splashed his face for a second time, just hanging over the bowl of the sink, shutting his eyes, and letting the water drip for a few seconds. He then wet his hand again and shook it off a little before he laid it over the back of his neck.
By the time Sarah'd come back from checking on Max, he'd had both of their cups of coffee fixed and he'd taken them back to the table to wait for her.
He'd gotten "How is h—?" out before she'd leaned down to where he sat at the table and pressed her lips to his cheek. Slowly. And then he'd gaped at her for three whole seconds before she'd thanked him for fixing her coffee for her.
They'd sipped their coffee for five whole minutes, Sarah watching him closely over the rim of her mug, and he'd done his best not to squirm. He was in her home, her son was sleeping right down the hallway, and this date was still happening, and he needed to slow the hell down before he spontaneously combusted. So he'd finally excused himself, asking her where the bathroom was.
So here he was, hiding in said bathroom. Or not hiding, but recuperating. Recalibrating. Gathering himself.
Chuck patted his face with the towel, then carefully did the same to the back of his neck, feeling much better.
Why did he do this shit every single time? He lost it when he liked someone and especially when it felt like they liked him back.
Ellie pretended she was some sort of psychoanalyst and told him it was a fear of rejection. Fear that he'd fall hard for someone and they'd walk away from him and leave him in tatters. Pfft…
…Okay, maybe.
His parents. His high school girlfriend Amanda breaking up with him during fifth period P.E., and then the crushing of his soul that was his breakup with Jill fucking Roberts at the end of college. Then of course the hundreds of job applications he brought to potential employers that ended up in garbage cans, interviews that were wastes of time. Facing rejection over and over again. In every aspect of his life.
He wasn't afraid of Sarah, though dating a woman with a son was not anything close to what he'd had in his plans. He didn't even know what his plans were, really. But dating a mom wasn't in them.
She was a good person. She loved Max and he loved her back. That much was clear just in the few minutes he'd seen them interact. And in the abject guilt in her fact when she'd found that oddly cute blanket stuffed animal hybrid toy in her purse. There was no way he'd do anything less than turn around to take her back so that she could give him the one thing he needed to sleep without a tantrum. And after Carina made this date possible, he couldn't let her get the brunt of that tantrum.
Sarah seemed like she was probably a pretty good mom.
Which meant she'd prioritize her son. She already had, pushing off giving Chuck a firm yes until she could get Carina to babysit him tonight.
Was that something he could deal with?
He thought so. At least, he definitely wouldn't be blaming her for being a good parent.
And was he being intense even thinking past this one date? She'd invited him up to continue things, hadn't she? That was a good sign.
Chuck huffed and shook his head at himself, walking out of the bathroom and sneaking past the room with the almost shut door, figuring that was where Max slept. He heard a low humming sound or something and wondered if the kid needed a sound machine to sleep.
Sarah still sat at her table, her heels kicked off of her feet, legs tucked under her body. She sipped her coffee, looking up at him even as she did.
Before she could say anything, Chuck found himself blurting, "Can I see you again?" She swallowed her coffee with a quiet choking sound, pressing her fingers to her lips as she pulled the mug away. "I mean like a second date."
Sarah leaned to the side and peeked around him towards the hallway, her wide eyes flicking back to him. "What happened in that bathroom?"
The tension immediately eased in him as he laughed.
"I'm sorry," he said, putting a hand up to his forehead and scoffing at himself. He approached the table again and sat down, taking a sip of his coffee as if it was whiskey or something else that was much stronger. "I'm constantly dealing with five million thoughts in my head at once, all battling to make it to my mouth, and sometimes the wrong thing wins."
Sarah giggled. "That's the cutest way I've ever heard someone describe that phenomenon."
"It's true," he chuckled. "I blurt the wrong thing and sometimes it's also at the wrong time. So I apologize. But I guess, um, the question still stands."
He watched as she twisted her lips to the side, diverting her gaze. "Yes," she said quietly.
Was that…? "…Yes?"
"You asked a question. I answered." She gave him an amused look, a bit of shyness there as well.
Chuck smiled, taking a moment to sip his coffee, letting her answer settle in his chest. And then he finally spoke up again, lifting his eyes from his mug to meet her gaze. "So we're doing this again?"
"I guess so." She nibbled on her lip, her smile dimming just a little. "I can't make any promises about when that will happen. I, um, I don't know when I'll be free to go on a date again. Tonight was sort of a rarity, Carina just happening to be free last minute."
He got the hint. He shouldn't count on that being the norm.
"Got it. Of course." The important thing was that it wasn't a no.
Sarah smiled at him, then slid a hand over to cover his, squeezing. "Thank you for being so understanding. I know it's probably, um, different. Me being a mom, the rough schedule that comes with that."
"It is different, but it isn't a bad different. It's just different." He turned his hand over in hers and squeezed back. "I'll tell you what else is different. Actually getting to a second date with someone. Sooo…"
They chuckled together.
"You aren't being fair to yourself, Chuck."
"No, I'm just being honest. It's the honest to God truth. I swear. Pinky swear." He threaded his pinky with hers then and gave it a little tug, making her snort and give him a look. "Sorry, that was juvenile. Erm…"
"I have a two year old. I'm used to juvenile. It's okay."
"Wow." She cracked up as he tried to be offended, but he found he couldn't even pretend. She was funny. "Wowwww," he laughed. "Okay. Not gonna lie, that was good."
"Thank you," she chirped, grinning at him and taking another sip from her coffee. She sobered a bit, but still smiled softly. "No, really, Chuck. Thank you."
He sipped, swallowed, and licked his lips, tasting the delicious coffee she'd brewed there. "For what?"
"Tonight. It was a really good break from…everything." She widened her eyes, raising her eyebrows. "And it was something I didn't realize I needed until we were out there on the town. No work, no two year old…" She thrusted her hand out towards him. "Don't get the wrong idea. Max is the best and most important thing in my life. But parenting is, um, hard. And draining. Especially when it's just…me." She shrugged shyly.
"I'm sure it is," he said immediately. "And I'm not judging you or assuming anything, I promise. We all need to step back, recalibrate. I'm just sorry you had to share your rare night off this time around with a doofus." He made a silly face.
She gave him a reprimanding look. "Stop that. I'm glad you were with me tonight. I never would've known about those tacos, first of all. Secondly, now I know that sitting on top of the car rather than just on the hood is actually kind of better. Unless you need a back rest."
He chuckled, but nodded, fixing a serious look on his face. "You're right. That's definitely an appropriate exception. Back rests are important sometimes."
"I think I'd also forgotten what a good date is supposed to feel like, so thanks for reminding me again."
Chuck felt warmth filling the space between them as they met gazes. "So had I, honestly. I've only known duds for, like, years now." He winced. "Maybe too honest? Maybe too honest."
"Man, you really just put yourself out there sometimes, don't you?"
Laughing, he blushed and ducked his head. "Gah, I do. I know. It's a problem."
"Teasing aside, I like it," she reassured him immediately. "You're unpredictable in the fun ways, and…I don't know you all that well yet, but I feel like you're probably predictable in the important ways."
"Well, thanks for saying that, but I wouldn't bet money on it."
"Fine. I won't." She shrugged, sipping her coffee. "But I am staking a second date on it."
"Oooo," he drawled. "I like that."
She giggled and smiled coyly. "Want a warm-up on that coffee?" she asked.
He still had some in his cup and if he drank more, he'd be up for the rest of the night, but he'd heard and seen the invitation and he really thought being tired as hell tomorrow would be worth sticking around for as long as possible, so he nodded with a grin.
"Thanks."
"Sure."
He watched her stand up to grab his cup from him, and as their fingers brushed, Chuck felt an unmistakable pull between them, the same one he'd felt in her office the last two days. He wasn't sure what to do with that, except to keep sitting, to make this night last. Because he didn't know when the next time he'd get to do this with her would be.
}o{
Sarah Walker knew procrastination when she saw it. She had an incredibly clever son who was just starting to utilize it as a tactic to keep from doing things he didn't want to do, even though he didn't even know what procrastination was yet.
Chuck had offered to help her clean up a little once they finished the coffee she'd brewed and she didn't have anything else to keep pouring into their mugs to make this last longer.
And as she cleaned the mugs, the coffee pot, and everything that went with it, he took them from her to dry. He swiped that towel over every last nook and cranny ten times over, meticulously covering the entire surface, tucking it into spaces she tended to ignore when drying things. And then he would hold it up towards the light to inspect it and spot check.
It was clear he was putting off finishing, as if he was aware the end of the dishes would probably mean the end of the night.
And she couldn't help but appreciate his efforts, while also be genuinely pleased that he was resisting leaving. She didn't know when she'd be able to have another night free, and she hadn't said anything about Chuck's extra slow drying tactics because she didn't much want this to end, either.
When he went home, that'd be it for…she didn't know how long. It sucked, but it was just how things had to be. Max had to come first.
As she passed Chuck the lid to the coffee pot, the last thing he had to dry, she watched him take his sweet time with it, smiling knowingly as she turned off the water and reached out towards him. "May I use that towel to dry my hands?"
"Oh! Sure." He held it out towards her and smiled at him, drying her hands, before she leaned her hip against the counter and watched him for a few long moments.
She still didn't know all that much about him. She knew where he worked, since that was how she met him in the first place, she knew he was exceptionally good at computers, she knew he was in a little bit of a rut, as he'd told her as much, though not as bad of a rut as he'd been in before. She knew what he liked to drink. She knew he was a self-proclaimed "nerd". And he was apparently exceedingly brilliant.
"Can I ask you something?"
Sarah shook herself a little and watched as he turned to look at her. "Sure," she said easily, even though she wondered if there'd been a tone in his question that denoted he'd be asking something serious. She braced herself.
"I've been trying to figure it out, okay? Because you've kind of hinted a few times tonight that you, um, you have a hard time getting dates, I guess. That it's hard to get guys to go out with you. I suppose I'm just curious. I get it with me. I've got some legit drawbacks." She gave him a tired look that she thought he deserved, but he ignored it. "But I just don't see that with you."
"Look harder," she said more sardonically than she meant to. He was being sweet and he didn't deserve the tone even if it wasn't necessarily directed at him.
He simply blinked at her, then he nodded. "I have. All night long. I still don't get it."
He was sweet. God, he was so sweet.
Sarah sent him a soft smile, resisting the urge to touch him as he took the towel back and slowly continued to dry the lid. "Well, he's about this high," she said quietly, having to kneel to hold her hand above the ground, "has brown hair, blue eyes, a wicked little laugh that makes me happy, and an elephant obsession."
Chuck grinned at her, and then he must've realized what that had all meant. "Wait, your son? Really? Does he scare dudes off?"
"He's kind of scary," she admitted, narrowing her eyes dubiously at him.
"Does he, like, gnash his teeth at them and snarl or something?"
Sarah laughed at the imagery. "No, but I'm sure if he knew how to gnash his teeth and snarl, he'd do it all the time."
That made the man still taking his time with the drying the last item giggle. It was a lovely sound and it made her smile just as hard on the inside as she did on the outside. "So he isn't physically, like, chasing men out of your apartment?"
"No, of course not. He doesn't know much better than that a man I'm seeing is Mommy's friend. He's too young." She sighed. "I'm a mom, Chuck. People in their twenties don't want to date single parents. That's an…undertaking."
"Oooohhh, Jesus, I'm slow not he uptake tonight."
"You aren't at all. I'm not…using my words properly. Max is two and a half years old and he's mine. My responsibility. He'll continue to be my responsibility for the rest of my life and maybe even after that, depending on what you believe. He isn't just something a guy can wait out. He isn't going away. He isn't a phase or something like that. He's my son." Chuck nodded as she spoke, and when she finished, she made a brush off motion with her hand. "And I think that just doesn't compute with some people. You know? When you don't have that kind of responsibility, being with someone who does is…hard. Dating a single parent is a whole different ballgame."
She wondered if she'd just told this guy who was trying to date her too much. Maybe that was something she should've kept to herself. What if none of this had occurred to him and she'd just handed him a pretty good reason for why he should hightail it out of here?
He'd be excusing himself because "it's getting late" in 3…2…1.
"I don't know. To me, it doesn't make sense to walk away from the ballgame just because it's different. It does make sense that you just, you know, learn the new rules and do your best to play anyway." He furrowed his brow in thought, seeming to search for words to continue the metaphor, because he was a genuine dork, and her smile widened. "Especially when the thing you're playing for, the trophy, if you will, is someone like you." She narrowed her eyes in a bit of a wince and he caught himself, groaning. "I didn't really just compare you to a trophy, oh my God. I-I don't mean you're…a trophy. Oh God, I'm sorry. I was just trying to stick with the metaphor. I'm done with that metaphor."
Sarah laughed, squeezing his forearm reassuringly. "I'm not offended. I know what you mean. It's sweet. But…you have to know, not everyone sees it that way."
"All right, fine. I guess you're right, but I don't jive with that."
"You don't what now?" she laughed, looking right at him, as he stood there still drying the stupid little lid to the coffee pot.
"I don't jive with it," he repeated, chuckling, narrowing his eyes at her for laughing at him. "You're cool."
She laughed again. "Am I hip as well, Chuck?"
"Oh my God, stopppp," he groaned and she squeezed his arm again.
"I'm just teasing you. You're fun to tease."
"If I had a nickel for every time someone said that to me…" he groused good-naturedly. "Look, I get how dating someone who is a parent is daunting. I'm…a little daunted, admittedly. But you're great. This was hands down the best date I've ever been on. And your son—Max—Max seems like an awesome little dude. I only met him for a few minutes, but he's pretty freakin' cute."
"Cutest kid in the world, and I'm not biased at all," she chirped, shrugging one shoulder.
Chuck finally finished drying the damn thing and he offered it to her, a closed-mouth smile on his face. She reached up to take it from him and he pulled it back teasingly so that she grabbed at air. She only got part of a giggle out before he dove in and pressed his lips against hers.
As he pulled back a little, his nose brushed against hers and she took a deep but subtle breath. She got enough of her wits about her to snatch the lid from his fingers with a "Ha!" and backed away from him, setting it by the machine.
"Slick, private eye… Very slick," he chuckled, but she spotted the pink on his cheeks.
Maybe it was his thing for calling her 'private eye', or maybe it was his adorable blush. Maybe it was the whole night put together. But something made her close the distance, cup his face, and kiss him again, only harder this time.
His hands felt so warm and large as they landed on her back, sliding to her waist, then her hips, and to her back again. She just wound her arms around his neck and leaned her weight into his chest, letting him hold her as she moved her lips against his.
They stood there for a while in her kitchen, and she recognized the urges she felt starting to bubble up. Especially with the quiet whimpering sound he emitted when her tongue brushed his.
She thought she heard a squeak in the hallway then and she reluctantly pulled back from the kiss, blinking her eyes open and peering up at him with his lips still pursed, eyes still shut. Still, he let her step back away from him. "Just…Just a second. I thought I heard…"
And he nodded vigorously so that she could move through the kitchen and swing around the doorway to peer down the hall.
She could've sworn…
Maybe the apartment was making sounds. It was on the older side, wasn't it? Even if it was kept up nice. It creaked and groaned sometimes the way old houses did. But she turned and held up a finger towards Chuck, that desperation to go back and kiss him again sitting strong in her chest.
She crept down the hallway and oh so gently pushed Max's bedroom door a bit more open so that she could look in. The noise machine was still going and he hadn't even moved an inch.
Well.
Sarah went back to the kitchen and winced at her date.
"Did we wake him up? Was I too loud?"
"No, no. He hasn't even budged. I thought I heard a floorboard or something. It's rare, but he has gotten up in the middle of the night to ask for water or to go to the bathroom. The apartment's kind of old, though, so…"
"Ah."
They stood there, only a few feet between them, and Sarah could still feel his lips against hers, the way he'd tasted like coffee and smelled a little bit like the beach. How his arms felt around her, his hands spread on her back.
She hated Carina for putting ideas in her head, planting seeds, because now she was thinking about expectations. Both Chuck's and her own. Sex on the first date wasn't usually her M.O., not that she was particularly against it, but it just didn't happen, especially not since she had Max.
And it seemed like it wasn't going to happen tonight either, because they stood there awkwardly for long enough that Chuck pulled his left wrist up and glanced at his watch. She didn't know what time it was. She didn't really even care what time it was.
But that was the quintessential move of someone who was about to announce their departure.
"Um…"
"Going home?" she asked, doing the dirty work for him.
Chuck huffed, his shoulders slumping. "Can I just admit to you that I don't want to yet? I hope it's okay, since I just did admit that. Out loud. Jesus."
Sarah giggled. "I don't want you to go yet, either."
Hope flared to life in his face, but then he glanced over her shoulder at the entrance to the hallway, and she had no idea what was going through his mind in that moment, because he sighed and shrugged.
"You're leaving anyway," she explained for him, smiling to let him know she wasn't upset.
"I probably should," he said, disappointment lacing his words, his nose wrinkled in frustration. "It's after one and I-I just should…let you get some sleep."
"So that I can keep up with that one tomorrow?" she asked, amusement crackling in her tone.
"I can't imagine it's easy when you've gotten enough sleep, let alone when you haven't."
"Nnnnope," she chirped.
They laughed together, and she felt this incredible pull there between them, like an unseen hand was tugging them towards one another. She wanted to ask him to stay.
And as they walked arm in arm towards the door, her tongue twisted itself in a knot. Stay. Please stay. Stay with me.
The implication would be crystal clear.
But she didn't do it. She didn't ask.
Even when Chuck leaned down to kiss her again. She grabbed at him, holding him tightly, kissing him back with everything in her.
But then he broke the kiss, and instead of moving away, leaving, he hugged her, burying his face in her hair, just holding her for what felt like a long time, and then not long enough.
As he pulled back, he graced her cheek with his lips, and finally stepped away from her, opening the door. "Good night, Sarah. Tell Max I said it was nice meeting him."
"I will."
"I can call you again?"
"Please. Please do. Or I'll do it for you."
His raised his eyebrows and chuckled. "Yes, ma'am."
And then there was a sparkle in his amber eyes and he darted back in close to her, pressing a soft, slow kiss to her lips again, his fingers wrapping around her wrist.
Just like that, he was gone, the door shut behind him, leaving her standing there filled with light, and regret both. Light because she was absolutely losing her grip…and regret, because well, she was losing her grip. Absolutely. She wanted to grab him and drag him back in here, not stopping until they reached her bed.
Carina's unsolicited advice notwithstanding, Sarah knew what she wanted. She wanted that. And she'd wanted it all night, hadn't she?
Pushing her hands through her hair, she took a deep breath, telling herself to calm the hell down, a grin exploding onto her face. She flipped both locks on the door and took her giddy self through the apartment turning off all of the lights, floating down the hallway and into her bedroom to get ready for bed.
Not even a shower made her tired the way she'd hoped it would, in spite of it being nearly two in the morning by the time she crawled under her bed covers. She grabbed her phone and set her alarm, just in case Max didn't wake her up first, and she ignored Carina's Sooooo? text.
She fell asleep immediately, a smile still on her face.
A/N: Find you a man who quotes E.T. at you on the first date, amiright, ladies? Ow OWWWW.
Please review. Honestly. It helps a lot.
-SC