The Nerd Versus the P.I. Family

By Steampunk . Chuckster

A/N: I hope everyone is having an easier time of it with the writing and stuff than I am because this has been a struggle. And I hope everyone is getting their vaccines and boosters and still wearing masks in public. Please. I don't know how much more of this freaking thing I can take without my head exploding.

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.

She didn't know how she ended up sitting on the floor for so long, her legs going numb with how she was forced to sit thanks to the skirt she was wearing.

But it might've had something to do with how much she was laughing, listening to Chuck regale them with stories, like the time a woman's "therapy dog" got loose in the Buy More and ended up not being a therapy dog, but instead just an untrained dog, which had the entire store's employees chasing after it because it didn't seem to even know its own name.

Max was quiet, his eyes big, the shyness still there. He seemed to prefer bouncing his horse about on the mat over listening to Chuck's anecdotes. And he ended up leaning his weight against Sarah's side, looking sleepy after the food he'd eaten. He'd already had a long nap in the mid-morning, but she wouldn't complain if he had another short afternoon one. At least she'd be able to get a few phone calls in that way. He slept like a rock and didn't mind noises even in the same room.

But then her desk phone rang and she sighed, looking up at her desk over her shoulder. "I have to get that, Max. Can you sit up for Mommy, please?"

"Kay."

She helped him sit up and she climbed to her feet, brushing bread crumbs from her lap. She'd have to vacuum in here later after they ate that messy bread, but…again…worth it.

"Max, will you help Chuck get the trash together while Mommy's on the phone, please?"

"Ya."

Sarah hurried to the phone and snagged it. "Sarah Walker, Private Investigator. How may I help you?"

"Good. I was hoping this was the right number." She frowned at that. "This is the right Sarah Walker, isn't it?" the man asked. But his voice sounded…strange. Warbled. Disguised.

"I don't know. Which Sarah Walker were you trying to reach?"

"The private investigator," he said impatiently.

"Then yes. Yes, it is. Who may I ask is calling?"

"The who isn't important. You're going to want to pay more attention to the what." Sarah walked around her desk quickly and then leaned against it, her back to Chuck and Max.

"What's this concerning?" she asked, keeping her voice level.

"They got into your computer the first time, Miss Walker, and all they did was steal some evidence. But you have to know they could've done a lot worse, right? They still can. This is a lot bigger than you know. You think you've only found the tip of the iceberg, but this ain't no iceberg, lady. It's a whole world of ice. This is just the beginning of what you're gonna find if you keep digging."

"Are you calling to help me dig? You got an actual shovel, or are you just calling to be cryptic?"

"Lay off me, lady. It's a lot that I'm making this phonecall in the first place. I'm being watched, see?"

"So what are we talking here? Laundering?"

"Lower."

"Lower?"

"Like, lower into the pits of hell lower."

"Murder."

"Ah, come on. I was told you were the best at this. Murder? Of course murder. Murder always goes hand in hand with all of this stuff. It's hangin' over my head too if they find out I've contacted you."

"Why don't you just tell me then?" she asked in frustration.

"I can't. But I want you to know how big it is. We're talking thousands, here."

"You talking in dollars?"

"I'm talking in number of accomplices. It's a whoooole enterprise and it's been operating right under the LAPD and FBI's noses for almost two decades. You and your copper friends and the DA's office are sniffing a little too close for comfort now, and that's why they wanna know what you're up to."

"That's why I was hacked?"

"Yeah, and trust me when I say they won't stop there. I've seen folks turn up dead…kidnapped. Disappeared and no one knows where."

"Like who?"

"I can tell you some of it."

Sarah scrambled to grab a pad of paper and a pen.

"Kyle Butler? That kid in his early twenties what turned up dead in a ditch off the side of the 91 two years ago? That was them." She wrote that down, remembering that case. "Yeda Demin, found murdered under the Santa Monica Pier late last year."

"She was an immigrant from Turkey, right? Did domestic work at hotels…"

"That's right. That was them, too."

"Why'd they kill a kid and a Turkish migrant in her fifties?"

Before he could answer, she felt a tug on her skirt. She turned to see Max looking up at her. "Mommyyyy, I go. I go."

Shit.

"Just a second," she said into the phone. He said something in her ear, but she didn't hear it as she muffled the phone against her blazer. "Baby, we can't go to the potty right now. Can you hold it for a minute?"

"No, I go now." He made a pained face. "Bad."

Shit!

Misery went through her. She knew she had to hang up on this lead, on this…whatever it was…cryptic Deep Throat person…because her two year old had to go to the bathroom. He'd put on big boy underwear, promising her that he was ready for them. Even though she still had diapers in her Mary Poppins bag just in case. And she knew that if she delayed much longer, he'd wet himself. And it would be her fault, not his. He was doing the right thing.

But before she could get back onto the phone to practically beg her own personal Deep Throat to call back in ten minutes, Chuck was there.

"Why don't I walk you over to the bathroom, Max? We'll go to the big boy bathroom and it'll be cool. Like an adventure." He raised his eyebrows at Sarah for permission and she just gaped at him. "If…it's okay with you and your mom?"

"It's… Chuck, you don't have—"

He stepped up close to her and she froze. "Whoever that is on the phone, it seems super important. Like big time private eye stuff. I will take Max to the bathroom, you handle that. I got you," he whispered.

She didn't know what else to say so she glanced down at Max. "Max? Are you okay with Chuck taking you?

"I just GOOO," he whined.

So she nodded, and Chuck gently reached out for Max, who put his little hand in the much bigger one. "The, um, the bathroom is out the door to the left. Just follow the hallway, it's at the end of it. You won't miss it."

"Gotcha."

She watched as Max went with Chuck, the latter so tall that the former was practically on his tiptoes, reaching up to hold his hand as they walked. "Okay, you have my ear."

"I have to go."

"No, wait. Why are you calling me like this?"

"That doesn't matter. You have to keep digging. I'll help where I can, but I make no promises."

"Are you helping them too? Is that how you know all this."

There was silence for a long time. "Look, let's just say I used to work on your side of the law too. Doesn't take much to change that. A few wrong steps and here I am. I'm trying to rectify it, okay?"

"Is that why you won't tell me who you are?"

There was a flirtatious lilt to his voice then. "You really wanna know that bad, huh? Are ya lonely, detective?"

"Trying to stop criminals from…doing whatever it is they're doing that you seem too cowardly to outright explain in plain God damn English," she snapped, tired of his games.

"I could talk to you all day."

"And say absolutely nothing in the meantime," she groused. "You've given me nothing."

"I've given you a lot. Enough to get me strung up by the neck if they find out. And they might be tapping this wire, too. So this is all you get."

"I need more."

"I bet you do, P.I…." She hated his tone. "But unfortunately, that's not anything I can solve from all the way over here."

"Where's here?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Yeah, that's why I fuckin' asked, asshole."

She hated the condescending chuckle. "That's my cue to go."

"Wait. Give me something. Anything I can go off of."

"You've already gotten a good start. Those guys you've nabbed are the start of the string. Just feel your way along it and you'll start finding more of 'em. Follow the strings. Watch the freeways. Watch the rivers."

What?

"What's that mean?"

"You'll get it soon. Until then… Yevgeni."

The line cut out then and there was nothing but a dial tone. She didn't even bother trying to get him back, instead hanging up the phone and looking down at the two names she just wrote.

"What the fuck?" she breathed, shaking her head. She grabbed the pen and wrote down, "Watch the freeways. Watch the rivers. Yevgeni." She was about to grab her cell to call Captain Casey when she realized she just sent her son out of her office with a man she'd only been on two dates with.

And it wasn't that she thought Max had just been kidnapped. But Chuck had no idea what taking that kid to the bathroom was like.

"I goooo" became "No I okay" which then became "Wait I gooo" and then he'd just stand there not going for a while. It was a whole process, an infuriatingly annoying one she couldn't get him to stop doing.

But then there was also the fact that she'd just sent her son to the bathroom with a stranger, whether she trusted the guy or not.

She was the worst parent on the planet.

She rushed out of her office, bursting into the hallway. But before she could sprint down towards the bathroom, she stopped as if she'd run into a brick wall. Because there they were, at the end of the hallway closer to the bathroom, kneeling side by side and facing the wall.

Waiting for her heart rate to settle, she closed the distance. Chuck looked up and noticed her first, a smile stretching over his handsome face. He reached out a hand behind Max's back and ushered her closer.

She crept in close, furrowing her brow in question, then hunched forward to peek down at what they were looking at. Chuck had his hand held out in front of her son, and a little red bug with black spots was crawling on his finger. She gasped. "A ladybug!" she breathed.

Max looked up with an excited look on his face. "Mommy, it heee inside. I saw affer I go!"

"That's so cool! I wonder how it got in here."

"No idea," Chuck said. "The elevator maybe?" He chuckled and climbed to his full height. "I'm going to try to see if I can take it back outside. Or…maybe it'll be fine on this plant here."

Sarah had an incredible need to hold her son after that phone call she'd just had, so she wrapped her arms around him and lifted him up into her embrace, balancing him on her hip and hugging him tight. She watched Chuck put the ladybug on the hallway plant instead of taking it all the way out.

"Mommy, I did go!"

"Did you?" She sent Chuck a look. "Did he go?"

"Yes." She raised her eyebrows. "I, um, maybe didn't realize what I was getting into because there was a lot of…um…back and forth about whether he actually had to go…"

There it was.

"Yeah, that's his thing. I'm so sorry. I won't do that to you again." She reached out and squeezed his wrist.

"No, it was okay! I survived. He survived. He peed. I didn't. But I don't…have to." He narrowed his eyes, as if wondering why he'd just said that. "Um. We're good."

"Mommy, I almos' miss da toiyet but, uhh, I din't!"

"I'm glad you didn't," she chuckled, hugging Max tight again. She was trying not to shiver. How did that cryptic caller know she was involved in the case? How did he know about the hacking? How did he know how much she knew, how far she'd been digging already? And why didn't he give her more than this? Was he playing a game with her? Was he on the inside, lying on purpose to throw her off?

Chuck was frowning at her, and she cursed him for being so observant. He caught her hand before she could pull away and go back to her office. "Everything okay?"

"Uh yeah. Yeah!" She grinned toothily. "Just, um, case stuff."

He nodded, then let go of her so that she could carry Max back to her office. She felt the need to be in an enclosed space behind some locked doors, honestly.

And she found she was glad to feel Chuck on her heels, following behind them. It made her feel more at ease.

Sarah put Max down so that he could run through the waiting room and go back to his toys, and she turned, letting Chuck in before she shut the door and turned the lock. He noticed. Because that was what he did. He noticed things. And then he turned to give her a significant look. "What was that call? You don't have to give me details. I know I can't have the details. But are you okay? You look…"

"Rattled? Shaken up?" He shrugged in confirmation. "I am. A little. I have to call my contact at the LAPD. But that's going to have to wait 'til later now. What I need is a drink. Preferably of the alcoholic kind. And some space to think."

"Should I go?"

She reached out and grabbed his forearm, almost as if she was afraid he'd leave, something close to desperation rising in her chest. "No. No, I don't mean that. I mean, I don't need it now. I doubt if I'll sleep tonight. I have so much…in my head now. So it'll be then that I do my thinking. And…drinking. That's kind of just how it works out anyway, thanks to that little guy." She gestured towards Max who was calmly playing with his horse again, totally oblivious to his mom's tumult.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Chuck asked then. "I-I mean, that person, they didn't…threaten you, did they?" She noticed the way he stepped a bit closer, his spine straightening. And God, it was seriously so cute, wasn't it?

Sarah smiled. "You've been helping. A lot." And then she decided to give him more as she stepped into his warmth and wrapped her arms around his torso, hugging him. But then he embraced her around her shoulders and held her tight, and she decided maybe she'd hugged him because she needed it more than anything.

"I mean, if I get really good hugs out of it, it's totally worth it. Not that it…wouldn't be worth it without the hugs, too. I don't know. Ignore me."

She giggled and pulled back, grinning up at him.

He smiled back, and she felt his hands rub against her back in a way that made the bubble in her chest ease that much more. "But you didn't answer if they threatened you," he said, a sober look on his face.

"They didn't. But I do feel…a little less safe. This might be bigger than I thought. Even bigger, because I already thought it was big."

His eyes widened. "Wait, what'd they do? What'd they say?" He winced. "Sorry, I know. I can't know. But—Sorry, I have questions."

"Yeah, so do I." She sighed, shaking her head. "I don't even know who it was or how they know I'm involved in this case. How they knew about my computer getting hacked."

He frowned. "You don't know who it is but they knew about that?" She nodded. "Was it a super secret cryptic call from someone who—Wait, so they wouldn't say their name, but they had inside information for you, because they want to do the right thing…"

Sarah could see him starting to get excited and she rolled her eyes at him a little.

"Sorry. You're right. I'm being ridiculous." There was silence for a few seconds. "But is that what happened?" She nodded. "Whoa! That's—Your job is nuts. That's right out of a movie."

"Chuck, this isn't a movie. I'm genuinely worried about who that person was and why they felt the need to give me this information. They might be trying to lead me on a wild goose chase. Or—"

"It could be a trap," he interjected, pinching his chin thoughtfully, his brow furrowed. "You're too smart, and they know it. You've already caught onto their scent, even if you don't really know what it is you're smelling just yet. And you have them nervous, scared-like."

"Are you…trying to be Humphrey Bogart?" she asked, raising her eyebrow. Sure, this was a serious situation and she had no idea what to even make of it yet, but it was like someone had flicked a switch in him and he suddenly jumped right into a movie. It was so embarrassingly dorky, and it was somehow insanely endearing that he was secure enough to do this in front of her. She had no idea she was into this sort of thing…

"Not really Humphrey. More of a…Dana Andrews. I think you're the Humphrey. Super hot, super smart, talks rings around folks, you've got a killer smirk. You're absolutely Humphrey."

Her smile grew as he spoke, and she gave his jacket a flirtatious tug. "You're nuts."

"Am I helping by being a total idiot, though?"

"Yes. I mean, no." She shook herself. "You're not an idiot. Maybe a bit of a goof, but it's helping, so, again, I'm not mad about it."

He grinned slowly. "Good. Will you be careful?" He made a face. "Ew. Sorry. I heard how that sounded." He tapped his ear. "You've been doing this for a while, I'm sure. You've got this down. Of course you know exactly what to do. I'm being a chauvinist."

"You're being sweet." She straightened his jacket collar for him. "But, yes, I have been doing this for a while. It's old hat. Doesn't mean I don't appreciate the concern still." He nodded with a smile. "That said, I do not know exactly what to do. I've never had a cryptic caller Deep Throat me before."

He stared at her blankly, and she wondered what had just happened in his brain, but then he rolled his eyes at himself and cleared his throat, shaking his head. "Uh, oh. Right. Like the whole Watergate Deep Throat thing, I got it. Right. I don't…ahem…"

Oh. God, maybe he was an idiot.

"Men," she droned, rolling her eyes. "Why would I ever mean it like that?"

"I…don't know." He cleared his throat. "Pretend that didn't happen."

"I'm gonna try," she teased over her shoulder as she walked away from him.

She began to gather everything up on her desk, then. "I need to get to the station and talk to my contact, though. I'd feel safer about it if I talked to him in person. This mystery informant mentioned tapped phone lines and it's got me spooked."

"Mommy, can I wead my ow' book?"

"How about you read your owl book in the car, hm?" she suggested distractedly as she began to shove everything into her messenger bag. "And can you do me a favor and start putting your toys away? That would help me a lot."

"What about Ho'sie howz?"

"We can build him another one next time we're here, okay?"

"Okaaaay," he grumbled. She could see he was starting to get pouty, which meant he was getting tired. And she wondered if he might fall asleep in the car, rather than read his owl book.

"Do you need help with your toys, Max?" Chuck asked, and something in her broke at the thread of hopefulness she heard there.

"No. I got."

He really was pouty, wasn't he? Sarah wished he'd answered differently as Chuck just stood there and stuck his hands in his pockets. Sarah turned to look at him and he smiled and shrugged. She gave him an apologetic look and lowered her voice. "He's getting tired and he gets a little pouty and sometimes even grumpy when he's tired."

"Oh, hey no. I get it. Totally. I appreciate a little dude who knows his boundaries already at two and a half. I've gotta earn helping with toy clean-up. I respect the heck outta that." He chuckled.

She didn't know why that out of everything he'd done today made her want to kiss him, but it did. It really, really did.

Sarah resisted, sending him an appreciative look instead, before she finished packing everything up in her various bags. "Okay, you ready, Max?"

"Yeah."

"Can you walk or do you need me to hold you?"

"I walk."

He pout-walked with little soft stomps away from her, his horse in his hand, leaving her and Chuck both behind.

"I, uh, see what you mean," Chuck muttered, looking amused.

"Yep. A regular diva." She raised her eyebrows at him, then smirked and led him out into the hallway. She locked both of the office doors securely, feeling a chill in the air around her still. She had no idea what to make of any of this. She just knew she was worried about the implications.

Thousands of accomplices? Thousands of people in this criminal operation? Was he lying? If he wasn't lying, it sounded like they already nabbed a few of those thousand, and maybe that was why "They" had gone after Sarah's files to see everything the authorities knew about them so far.

They probably would've already realized the answer to that if they'd looked hard enough. If it was as big as the mystery caller said, Casey, Carina, and Sarah had nothing.

Sarah held Max's hand as they all rode the elevator down together, and Chuck was particularly quiet as well, even as he seemed to fidget a little, like he maybe wanted to say something but was keeping it in. She was burning to know what it was.

But she didn't find out until a few minutes later after she'd gotten her son all strapped up in his carseat and handed him his owl book. He had a storm cloud look on his face, his little brow furrowed and his lips set in a deep frown. But his eyes were getting smaller and smaller. He would be falling asleep in the car, she knew.

She shut the door and turned to face Chuck, realizing he was still holding Horsie from when she'd distractedly passed it to him so that she could get Max properly inside of his carseat.

He quietly offered it to her.

"Thank you," she said warmly, taking it. "Oh, uh, how much do I owe you for the sandwiches and drinks, by the way? Everything kind of blew up and it didn't cross my mind 'til now. Will a twenty cover it?"

He shook his head.

"Was it more?" she asked, widening her eyes.

"No! No, no," he rushed. "No, it's not that. It's just that it's on me this time. You can get me next time." Then he shuffled his feet and squinted down the street a bit shyly. "So, um, there will be a next time, right? I'm not really anticipating that next date's gonna happen anytime soon with the way the case is sort of, um, going into hyperspace right now."

A sharp ache went through her chest at the resigned look on his face. He was trying so hard to make this work and she was trying too, but this was just…hard. And it wasn't going to get any easier.

"I'm not sure when this is going to get easier," she said out loud. "And I want to be honest with you about that. This case is…intense. And Max is…"

"Your priority." He reached a hand out towards the car, understanding in his face. "I absolutely get that. I respect you like crazy for it. You're a good mom. A great mom." She melted. She wanted him so bad she could practically taste it on her tongue. "But I'm not interested in dating you because I think it's gonna be easy. I'm interested in dating you because you're…you. I like you."

Sarah took a deep breath. "I like you, too. I just want to be honest with you, that's all."

He put his hand over his heart. "I know. And that means a whole lot to me. It makes me like you even more. But I can do hard. At least, I want a chance to work at it. If you'll let me. You just…" He stuck his hands in his pockets and let out a rough breath, glancing down the street again. "This just feels so worth it." He turned and looked her right in her eyes. "You feel worth it." He shrugged then. "So focus on the case, on your family. But if there's even just, you know, a smidgeon of time you can find somewhere in the middle of all of this for me, I'd like that." He gave her a crooked smile that made her feel weak in the best way. Or maybe the worst way.

She didn't know. She was all mixed up.

Which was why she tangled her fingers in his shirt and pulled him to her, covering his lips with hers. She was careful not to kiss him for too long, as her son was waiting in the car if he hadn't already fallen asleep, but she'd also missed this sensation since the night she'd been in Chuck's apartment, she didn't even know how many days ago.

She finally broke the kiss and sighed, hugging him, burying her face in his neck.

"Like I said," he muttered into her hair. "Worth it."

Giggling, she pulled back and nodded. "Yeah, it feels that way, doesn't it?"

"Because it is that way. I'd stake…a lot on that."

Sarah raised her eyebrow and smiled at him. "We're going to make a date happen. I don't know what it'll look like or where it will be. But we're going to do it. Somehow. At some point." She winced.

"I'd take a five minute date with you in a dumpster."

She barked out a laugh. "Um, well…let's hope it doesn't come to that."

"Oh, I know. I'm just saying, I would," he chuckled. And this time he leaned in to kiss her, which made her heart thud against her ribcage. When he pulled back, she couldn't resist pressing a warm kiss to his cheek, holding onto him tightly. He just felt like an anchor in this moment, something tethering her to the earth, keeping her from floating away, ending up lost to the cosmos or whatever.

Something about him just made her mind and her soul and heart feel…calm. Not so much her body. Her body felt a little less calm around him. And she knew why that was.

With one last peck on his lips, she shifted out of the way as he gestured towards Max, and she let him lean in past her seat to look into the back where Max was.

"It was nice to see you again, Max."

She saw Max nod through the window, playing tiredly with his horse.

"Will you take care of your horse 'til the next time I get to see you?"

"Yeah," Max muttered, nodding, his blue eyes lifting to look at Chuck finally. And he thankfully reached out when Chuck offered his hand, slapping it in a high five.

Chuck pulled himself back out of her car and smiled at her. "I'll talk to you soon?"

"At the very least, yes. That."

"And if you need anything from me, will you please let me know? I mean…anything. Seriously. Don't feel like…you can't or shouldn't. Okay?"

"Okay," she said, grinning. "Thank you, Chuck. For lunch. For…being here. For taking my son to the bathroom, which I'm sure wasn't nearly as easy as you thought it would be."

"And I didn't think it would be easy, so…" He chuckled, good-naturedly, and then he nodded. "And you're welcome. Thanks for not…" He narrowed his eyes. "I dunno, thanks for not being annoyed that I just…showed up at your agency like this today."

Sarah shook her head. "It wasn't annoying. It was…" Something she hadn't even realized she'd needed until he was standing there watching her try to scramble to clean up Max's toys thinking he was a client. "It was really nice, Chuck. I'm glad you were here." She sighed. "I wish I didn't have to get out of here so quickly."

"But you do have to. You've got crime-fighting to do."

And she could see clearly on his face that he was very attracted to her for it.

Giggling, she shook her head and moved up onto her tiptoes, framing his face with her hands and kissing him solidly, one more time.

She finally got in behind the wheel and let him shut her door for her. As she turned on the car, she rolled down her window and looked up at him. "I'll see ya."

"Absolutely you will."

He gave one last wave towards Max and stepped back from the car, letting her drive away. She didn't quite like that she felt as if a small piece of her was left out on that sidewalk with him as she turned the corner, losing sight of him.

}o{

"It sounded like something he was using to change his voice," Sarah said quietly, her son sleeping soundly in her arms as she sat across from Casey and next to Zondra. "Like a program. And maybe it…also sounded like he was doing something to his voice himself."

"Like making it deeper or something?" Zondra asked.

"Yeah. It sounded strained." She shivered and pulled Max in tighter to her chest. "And the fuc—the jerk was trying to flirt at one point. Whoever this guy is, I'm not sure he's trustworthy."

"Could be a trap," Casey muttered, before he reached out and took a sip from his coffee.

"That's something that's occurred to me," Sarah admitted.

"What this really means is that they're scared as hell. Of you in particular. You should be honored, Walker."

"What I am is worried," Sarah said, sending her ex-partner a look. "I've got Max now. I'm trying to keep him safe, and he needs his mom, so I have to keep me safe too."

"You saying you want me to drop you from the case?" Casey asked, and she sent him a death glare that had him holding up his hands. "Never mind."

Sarah lightened up on him a bit and sat back against her chair. "I've been doing this job with Max around for two and a half plus years now. I can do my job and raise my kid safely. I know I can. But that doesn't mean I'm any less worried about this situation."

Zondra shook her head. "What was the point of talking to you and giving you absolutely no information except to let us know that we're in deeper shit than we thought? It doesn't make sense."

"He gave us somethin'." Casey lifted the notepad she wrote his cryptic messages on. "What the hell does it mean?" He shrugged. "Who the fu—er, fart…knows?" Sarah rolled her eyes at him a little for that. "Yevgeni…is that some Communist shit or something?"

"A person's name, probably."

"Right, that's only a little better than saying 'Bob'," Sarah groused. "I'm sure there are plenty of Yevgenis in the world, and in this country. LA is the biggest melting pot there is; you'll probably find thousands of guys named Yevgeni. What if it isn't a name of a person?"

"See? The possibilities are endless. If anything, this Deep Throat bastard effer screwed us even worse by calling and telling you this garbage. Watch the rivers, watch the freeways? The hell?"

"I don't know. I have no idea what any of this means," Sarah said, rolling her eyes to the ceiling. "You're right that I feel even more lost now." Something clicked in her mind. "Lost. How do you get unlost?"

"Is that even a word?" Zondra snarked. "Unlost?"

"What are you talking about? Clues. Clues get you unlost," Casey said, wrinkling his face in consternation. "Which is why we're sitting here, trying to get clues."

"A map," Sarah explained. "A map helps you find your way when you're lost."

"So we get…a map?" Casey and Zondra exchanged looks.

"Watch the rivers. Watch the freeways," she repeated. "Maybe it's something with LA's geography, or the freeway and river patterns. Maybe that's what he was talking about."

"Look, I haven't used an actual fuggin' map since I was in high school, before this thing would tell me where to go and how to get there." Zondra pulled her smartphone out and wiggled it.

"So you'd better learn."

"Okay, so I'll learn," she snapped at Casey. "So now we trust this Deep Throat guy who called you?"

"What does it hurt, trying to look at a map?" Sarah asked, even as Casey picked up his phone.

"Nancy. Do we have LA road maps around the precinct anywhere?"

"The OC, San Diego…and the Inland Empire too, while we're at it," Sarah said with a shrug. "Can't hurt to be thorough."

Zondra groaned as Casey repeated it to the assistant.

And then he hung up the phone. "Hate to be the bearer of bad news, kids, but you better learn to read maps quick."

Sarah thought she detected a hint of pleasure in his snarkiness, the way he smirked into his mug as he took a sip from it.

"My dad taught me how to fix a defunct '67 Chevy. Can you do that, Captain?" Zondra asked, raising her eyebrows. Casey didn't comment. "Yeah, I thought not."

Nancy came in with a thick spiral bound road atlas in hand. "Here's LA for now, I'll get the others as soon as I can find them."

"I'll take that, thank you," Zondra said, snatching it from Nancy's hands. She sent Casey a significant look as she plopped it down on the desk and started thumbing through it.

"Thanks, Nancy. We appreciate it," Sarah said, and the middle-aged woman smirked knowingly, leaving with a wink.

Casey tore out some of the pages and began hanging them up on a large cork board on wheels that Zondra stole from down the hall, Sarah leaned back on the desk and watched it all unfold as she cradled her still sleeping son in her arms.

She did know how to use a road map. That was something her dad had taught her when she was very young when he took her on work trips with him while her mom stayed home because she couldn't miss work at her own job. It was in the summer mostly, and she and Jack Walker would sit in the car together for hours on end while he had her hold the map and tell him which way to go when they hit different freeways.

It was something she intended on teaching Max, too. Or maybe someday Max might have the opportunity to learn it from his grandpa if they went on a trip together.

She forced herself to focus as the pieces of the map started coming together. "Rivers, freeways… You use rivers and freeways to get somewhere, right? From point A to point B."

"I don't use rivers to get anywhere 'cause it's the twenty-first century," Casey mumbled.

Sarah ignored him. "Maybe it's something like that. Something to do with traveling, going somewhere."

"Is there a travel agent in LA named Yevgeni?" Zondra asked. Both Sarah and Casey gave her a look and she shrugged. "If Blondie can pull stuff outta her ass, so can I?" Sarah frowned and Zondra shrugged defensively. "He's asleep," she hissed. "He can't even hear me."

"A travel agency criminal syndicate."

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Can we take this seriously?"

"I am," Casey snapped. "People use travel agencies as a front all the time."

She raised one eyebrow. "That's a good point. But what are the odds some random guy called me from a travel agency to let me know that we're closing in on some criminal enterprise using his travel agency as a front?"

"What's wrong with throwin' ideas out there?"

"Fair." She shifted Max in her arms. "Okay, he's getting heavy and I don't trust your couch enough to put my son on it, so I'm going to take this guy home. If anything comes up, call me. If there is a travel agent in LA with the name of Yevgeni, call me for that too."

"S'wrong with my couch, Walker?"

She smirked at Casey and climbed to her feet, holding the two year old with his head on her shoulder, one hand under his bottom. "All I know is there were days I didn't even trust sitting in the chair at my own desk. It's a police precinct."

"Eh. Touché."

She left Casey and Zondra alone a few minutes later after they tossed a few ideas at each other. She excused herself, and they said their goodbyes.

Max woke up a little bit in the elevator ride down to blink at her, and when she said, "Well hello, sleepyhead", he rubbed his eyes and buried his head back in her shoulder to go right back to sleep.

And he slept the rest of the way home.

A/N: Please review. They matter.

Thanks.

-SC