A/N:…huh…now what?

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck

She checked her hair in the review mirror again. God, why was she so nervous? She had just seen him Thursday…when she told him to shut up and kiss her. She blew out a rough breath, got herself together, opened the car door, and walked up to Ellie's apartment. It was time for brunch. She was sure this would be fine. Absolutely fine. She going to see her best friend, and her best friend's neighbors, and her best friend's brother with who she found herself falling for…hard.

She blew out one last breath, put on a smile, and knocked on Ellie's door.
"SARAH!" Ellie said, after she had opened the door. She pulled Sarah into a hug, and Sarah felt some of her tension melt away. She did look around the room while in said hug, and saw Chuck was no where to be seen. He was there, right? He hadn't ghosted her…right?

"Alicia and Janice will be here in a bit," Ellie said as she let go of Sarah and started to the kitchen. "And they are not bringing Bradley."

Sarah giggled, thinking about the cat that had allowed Ellie to meet the couple. "Is Chuck here?"

"No," Ellie said, her head in the fridge. She grabbed what she needed, turned and saw Sarah's face. "He made me promise that I wouldn't forget about you when Alicia and Janice got here."

"Oh," Sarah said, nodding and smiling, her heart sinking, thinking about what happened two nights ago at Chuck's apartment.

}o{

Then

"Chuck, shut up and kiss me."

"Like…now?" Chuck asked.

Sarah sighed, half-stood, and swung her leg over his lap, sitting down, the two face to face. "I guess I gotta do this myself," Sarah said, cupping his face in her hands, and kissing him. She immediately felt his hands on her back. They were gentle, but there was no missing of him holding her, and the relief in his body that they were past this ridiculousness they had been hiding behind. She heard his phone ring and started to pull away.

"Just Ellie," he said, kissing her jaw. She felt her eyes roll and her eyelids flutter. "I'll tell her I was asleep."

"Good plan," she muttered, attacking his mouth with hers. The ringing stopped from his phone. God, why had she fought this for so long? Why had….what was that? She pulled away from Chuck. "That's Ellie!"

"No, that's not her ringtone," Chuck said, confused.

"It's her ringtone on my phone!" Sarah told him. "If I don't answer it-"

"Go! Go! Go!" Chuck said, helping her off her lap, understanding the urgency. While it was apparent that he wanted to be with her, they both understood how it would be if Ellie knew. At least right now.

"Hi!" Sarah said answering the phone. She saw the look of shock on Chuck's face and realized she had overcompensated a little too much excitement when answering the phone. She mouthed, "sorry," to him, not sure why, and the confused look on his face said as much. "How are you, Ellie?"

She listened for a moment, and began to wince. "Yeah, yeah, I'm not doing anything." She saw Chuck blow out a frustrated breath, and she knew it wasn't at her. "No, not doing anything at all." She gave him her most apologetic look. He nodded, knowing what she was doing. "Yep, I can be there…in thirty minutes?"

She mouthed to Chuck, "sorry," again, and listened. "Yeah, just give me a bit, okay. I started reading a book, and lost track of time." She was silent for a moment. "No, wine and a movie sounds wonderful. Right. No guys, just us. Right. Bye." She hung up, and looked at Chuck. "Listen-" she began.

"We're okay, right?" Chuck blurted out. "Like…Sarah…Sarah you were…" he trailed off not sure what to say.
"Chuck?"

"You were in a pretty vulnerable place just then, and I feel like maybe I took advantage of you," Chuck began.

"I believe I told you to kiss me," she pointed out.
"I know, I know," Chuck said. "But…you felt safe and…" He paused. Oh God. He didn't feel like that…about here. "Sarah, I'm kinda crazy about you."

"You are?"

"Yeah," Chuck said, thinking it was the most obvious thing in the world. "And the last thing I want to do is hurt you or take advantage of you, which…is probably why it's a good thing my sister called. In this moment…you telling me about your past, about everything…I'm just worried…I'm just worried that you thought that's how you were supposed to be, not that you wanted to be that way with me."

"Chuck," Sarah began.

"Look, I know we need to talk, but if you don't go soon, Ellie…." He trailed off, and she felt frustration boiling in her. He was right. "After brunch, we'll talk, okay? And maybe if you still feel the same way…we could…go on a date."

"No," Sarah said shaking her head and grinning. "I'm not dating anyone, I told you."

"Oh," he said, smiling at her. "What if you and I went out, hung out, and maybe….did more research?"

"Now that's a good idea," Sarah said. "Would you maybe feel interested in doing more research than we've done before?" Chuck's eyebrows lifted. "It wouldn't be in public."

"If you still feel that way Saturday, I would love to have that conversation with you," Chuck told her.

"Conversation….Chuck?" Sarah asked.

"Well, I mean…there's all sorts of way to communicate, isn't there?" She walked up to him, gently gripped his shirt, stood on her tip toes, and gave him a light kiss on the lips. "You're welcome," he told her. She grinned at him, let go, spun, grabbed her bag, and walked toward the door. She stopped because his fingers had gently wrapped around her wrist. She looked at him.

"Would it be out of line to ask for a hug?" Chuck asked.
"Never," she said, slipping her arms around his shoulders and feeling him hold on to her tightly. "So, what are you doing tomorrow?"

"Big project," Chuck told her. "And honestly, I should get to bed." He pulled away, his hands on her sides. "But, we are okay?"

"We are," Sarah told him. "I think we're pretty great."

"I mean, I've been thinking that for a bit, if I'm honest," Chuck told her. She felt something in her, and Chuck must have seen it in her eyes. "Ellie," he reminded her.
She nodded, gave him a peck on the lips, turned and headed out the door.

}o{

Now

"Man, you two have gotten so close," Ellie said, pouring herself a drink. She began to sip on it, watching her friend. "He had the same look on his face when I asked him to run to the store for me."

"Run to the store?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah, he got here early to help," Ellie said. "He seemed quite nervous if you want to know the truth."

"Maybe he was scared they would bring their dog," Sarah said, taking a sip of her drink, trying to still her face so no one would see how happy she was he was going to be there.

"I'm back!" came the familiar voice behind her. She tried her best to school her features as she turned. She saw him standing there, looking at her, him trying to school his features and doing a terrible job. "Hi. Sarah."

"Hi," she replied, smiling at him shyly.

"See, I did what I said I would do," Ellie told Chuck, taking one of the bags out of his hands. "I made sure that she had my full attention and didn't abandon her." He followed her into the kitchen, grinning at Sarah.

"Well, your guests aren't here yet," Chuck pointed out. "And by the way, where is Awesome?"

"He's at the hospital," Ellie said. "They needed him."

"Hence the name Awesome," Chuck told Sarah.

"Hence," Sarah said. "Did you get lost at the grocery store?"
He grinned at her. "I did not, but some of these items were hard to find."

"Sea salt?" Sarah said picking it up and waggling it in the air. "That's…hard to find?"

"Listen, I was looking for salt with the girl that had the umbrella because that's what we always use," Chuck began.

"Morton's," Ellie said.

"Right, I googled it, and they make it, it's the same can with light blue on it," Chuck explained.

"But the grocery store you were at didn't carry it?" Ellie asked, trying to get him to wrap up his story.

"Right," Chuck said. "So I asked the manager if he thought another store carried it." Sarah groaned, looked away, and laughed. "You laugh, but if I had brought home the wrong brand of salt…"

"It's…salt," Ellie said.

"No, it is sea salt," Chuck pointed out.

"Sarah, dear, would you do me a favor and get my brother away from me before I beat him with a wooden spoon?" Ellie asked Sarah, ignoring her brother.

"Would you be offended if we go outside, because it's warm in here with you cooking?" Chuck asked Ellie.

She spun towards him. "PUHLEASE DO!"

"Fine," Chuck said, spinning away from her, making her giggle. He offered Sarah his arm. Sarah gave Ellie a look.
"I will owe you so much if you take him away," Sarah said.

"Will you split with me whatever she gives you?" Chuck asked.

"No, because I'm the one that has to deal with you," Sarah told him.

"That's fair," Chuck said, nodding. The two headed out the door. Ellie stood there, watching them go, and when the door shut she shook her head. She turned back to the stove to finish what she was cooking.

Outside, Chuck and Sarah walked over to the fountain. "Would my dear lady like to sit on the edge of the fountain?" Chuck asked trying to sound proper.

"I would," she said with a slight curtsey, making Chuck giggle. She sat down and he sat down beside her.

He turned to her. "Hi."

"Hi," she replied softly and shyly. "I was kinda worried that you weren't coming."

"I was afraid of that when Ellie asked me to go to the store," Chuck admitted. "Look, I know a lot of guys haven't done you right, but I'm not going to ghost you like that."

"I mean it could of been work," Sarah said.
"I'm not saying there won't be times that I might have to go to work, but not this time, and I would have called you," Chuck explained.

"You could just text," Sarah said.

"I would have called."

She sat there, warmth filling her. She couldn't stop the smile on her face. "I need to tell you something." Chuck nodded at her to go on. "I could totally date you."

"And I you, but I think we said that you weren't going to date anymore," Chuck reminded her. "However, I was thinking that maybe we need to do some long-term research." He paused a second. "Exclusive research."

"It might be intensive," Sarah said.

"But would it be invasive?"

"Probably," Sarah said. "But only if both parties agree to it." She saw Chuck swallowed and laughed. "However, is this secret government research?" Chuck gave her a confused look. "Should we let people know?"

"Well, why I am fine with it, there might be some who could be biased in our data collection and influence our findings," Chuck said. "To be clear, it wouldn't be intentional, but…."

"Ellie," Sarah said.
"Ellie," Chuck replied, nodding.

She scooted a little closer to him. "So, about these Public Displays of Research," Sarah began.

"Not to be confused with Private Displays of Research," Chuck pointed out. She grinned at him. "Because they are very different.

"You would be open to some…if not many…Private Displays of Research?" Sarah asked.

"I think you should know, I am willing to do just about anything for this project of yours," Chuck told her, lying his hand over hers. She felt her pulse quicken and swallowed. "And I hope it's something that we have to work on together for a long time."

"And if it's not?" Sarah asked softly.

"Then it's not," Chuck said. "But, that's always the chance right? That your theory is wrong, but until you gather the evidence, test it, and observe it, you're never going to know."

"So what is your hypothesis?" Sarah asked.

He gave her an impressed look. "That we…I…am attracted to you," he began.

"I think it's safe to say it's the we in that statement that is more correct than just I," Sarah pointed out.
"Noted," Chuck said, his cheeks getting red. "That we are attracted to each other, and can be good for each other."

"So far, I agree with your hypothesis," Sarah said.

"Now, I don't think we need a control group, there are thousands of those running around," Chuck pointed out.
"I agree," Sarah said. "So we're just doing very narrow…but intensive, exclusive, research on ourselves."

"Correct," Chuck said. "Now, since you are so independent, I'm guessing that I am the dependent variable."

"I've found that around you, I've come a little dependent," Sarah said.

"No," Chuck said softly. "You just like being appreciated."

She stared at him. "I think I need to show you how much I appreciate being appreciated."

"And while I would, in fact, appreciate you showing me said appreciation of my appreciation," Chuck replied. Sarah squinted as she mentally carried the one on that sentence. "I must remind you that we just said that our research is supposed to be private."

"Got it," Sarah said. "Have we run out of ways to talk about research as a way of us dating?"

Chuck drew in a huge breath. "Dating!?" Sarah laughed. "Yeah, I think we have," he admitted in a normal voice. "Probably should go in and spend time with Ellie." She turned her hand over that was under his and threaded her fingers through his. He looked down at their hands and then back to her. "So, you wanna wait out here a while?"

"Yeah," she said.
"You know I'm kinda surprised you didn't just let yourself into my apartment last night," Chuck told her.

"You said you had a long busy day," Sarah pointed out. Chuck gave her a look. "What would you have done?"

"I have no idea," he admitted. "I worked twelve straight hours hooking up a system, I was exhausted."

"So had I crawled in your bed and cuddled up beside you?" Sarah asked.

"Probably would have been cranky if you snored," Chuck replied. She swatted him in the arm. "It's just a hypothesis."

"Keep talking like that, and you won't test it anytime soon," Sarah told him.

"Sarah, I'm not in this for that, I'm in this for you," Chuck told her.
"Want to test that hypothesis tonight?" Sarah asked. Chuck's eyes went wide as she laughed.

}o{

Brunch had been wonderful, as the five chatted about their careers, life, and everything in between. Chuck and Sarah told Ellie and her guests to sit down, and then proceeded to clear the table, put the food away, and do the dishes. As the other three talked in the other room, Sarah told Chuck about how work had been going since she was no longer working with Ellie's mentor.

The two came out of the kitchen, and noticed the three women on the couch together. Chuck offered Sarah the empty chair. Sarah shook her head and said he should sit on it and she could sit in the floor.

"It's not like Sarah couldn't sit on the arm rest and you could sit in the chair," Ellie pointed out. "I mean, she doesn't have cooties, Chuck."

"As a doctor, I will have to take your word for it," Chuck told Ellie, making Sarah swat him on the shoulder. "Are you sure?" he asked, turning back to Ellie. "I'm pretty sure only someone with cooties behaves like this."

"Go sit, you big goof," Sarah said pushing him. The two walked over, and sat. They noticed the three women smiling at them. "What?"

"Well," Janice began. "We were just wondering how long you two have been together."

Sarah and Chuck's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. Ellie had a knowing grin on her face. "Yes, brother dear, and best friend of mine, exactly how long have you two been dating.

A/N: I mean…they haven't….doesn't she know the title of this fic? Also, yes, I have a doctorate and used every research class I ever took to come up with that bantering.