Chuck vs. The Courtyard Bench

Well, in the previous chapter: Ellie and Sarah discuss family while enjoying 2 bottles of wine. The two exchange stories regarding their families along with the lack of presence for their respective parental units or unit. Once the dinner festivities are done, the visibly tipsy females are about to head home only to find themselves needing an alternate mode of transportation, which would be provided by Casey thanks to a call made by Sarah. So what's in store for this chapter? How is Sarah feeling the day after her dinner with Ellie? Why does Chuck refer to Patrick Dempsey as a rat bastard? Who does Sarah try to close line tackle in her bedroom while dressed only in a towel? When are Chuck and Sarah going on their non date!? Read and find out! Anyways, hope you enjoy the read and leave a comment to share your own thoughts on this particular chapters. As always, reviews are awesome.

Again, if you enjoyed reading my stories and left a comment I truly appreciate it. Please continue to do so as it gives me the incentive to write more chapters.

I don't own Chuck

Pain In The Ass

XXX

The follow morning around 9:30 a.m., Emma and Molly are sitting at the kitchen table when they suddenly hear the sound of somewhat lumbering footsteps deliberately impacting each step from within the main entry stairway. The footsteps seem intermittent evident due to the unevenness of each descending stride being made. Mother and young daughter see the source of the sounds gradually emerge out into the kitchen holding a glass of water in her right hand while clutching her iPhone in her left. Sarah. Her hair is somewhat disheveled as she shuffles her way in her Harry Potter pajamas towards her mother and little sister eating breakfast. When she finally reaches the table the glass of water in her right hand is placed down on it. Afterwards, she reaches for and then pulls back the chair that's situated across from her little sister who is eating cereal while her mother is drinking a cup of coffee.

It's not long before she plops herself down and after taking a few seconds to adjust herself sitting in the chair, she places her arms on the table and folds them inwardly in a L shaped fashion. Once it happens, she momentarily stares at both females sitting across from her then slowly lowers her head. "Good morning." The muffled sound of her greeting is a considerably amusing sight indeed for mother and younger sibling.

"Have fun last night with Ellie?" inquired Emma taking a sip of her coffee afterwards. "Take the aspirin I left for you on the nightstand?"

"Yes..." she answered once again. Head buried in her arms. "...to both. Thanks for the aspirin. As for last night, I remember bits and pieces of it." Sarah added expressing a pained, muffled groan. "Question."

"Shoot."

"How did I get back home? I don't remember driving."

In that instance, Molly expressed a twisted grin in the corner of her lips. "You called someone to pick you and Ellie up."

"Who?"

"A guy?" she responded. The twisted grin still being exuded.

There is a brief moment of silence as Sarah continues to have her head buried within her arms. However, the mere mention of a guy from her sister Molly causes an initial stirring in the once seemingly lifeless body recovering from a night out on the town with her friend and colleague. Her head slowly lifts to where she gradually pushes herself back into an upright position. Both eyes squinting a bit in order to readjust her vision due to the kitchen lights. After a few rapid blinks, she stares at Molly who is scrolling through her phone and at the same time eating cereal. She keenly notices her little sister give a quick sideways glance telling her that she's intentionally avoiding who drove her home. This leads her to breathe out one word.

"Brat?" questioned Sarah.

"What?" the 13 year old responded. A look of absolute innocence on her part. "He was a perfect gentleman. Got a chance to talk to him. Nice guy." she added refocusing back to her phone and bowl of cereal.

"You talked to him." Her attention on Molly is then averted to her mother Emma. "The both of you?"

Emma simply nods trying to hid the fact the amused smile from behind the cup filled with morning brew. "Handsome man. He has a presence about him..." she nodded looking over at young daughter. "...right Mol?"

"For sure. The way he can stand out and then not stand out." she retorted giving a wide, tight lipped smile.

"What does that even mean?" quirking her right brow at her sister.

"No clue." shrugged Molly. "I'm 13. I do have a limited vocabulary after all." Sarah shoots back a look that simply says "really".

In that instance, Emma chimes in. "It's progressing though. I can tell."

"Thanks Mom." Molly proudly replied. The young woman trying her best not to bust out laughing in that very moment. She averts her attention back to her big sister. "Before leaving, he said something."

Sarah's eyes slowly go wide after hearing that. There are so many thoughts running through her mind right now that it actually hurts her head because of the painful, throbbing feeling that she's presently experiencing causing her briefly close her eyes. In doing so, she tries to remember back to the moment in time on Friday when they exchanged numbers in order to recall as whether or not she also texted him the address to where she lives. Did she send him the address to where she lives, she thinks to herself. It's that sudden thought in which she scrambles to punch in her pass code to gain access into her phone. Despite the sheer throbbing pain she's enduring right now, she pushes through it while scanning over the text she sent to Chuck on that Friday. Luckily, she didn't send the address from what she read causing her to further wonder exactly how he knew where she lived.

This leads Sarah to once again close her eyes in order to calm herself down after working herself up into a frantic frenzy. A few seconds later, she opens them up in order to lock eyes with her sister. "What did he say? Exact words sis."

Molly sits there and pretends to mull over the exact words that were said. After a few moments of pretending to recall what was said, she gives her response. "He said..." the youngest Walker sibling answered leaning in towards her, which leads Sarah to do that same. Eye contact between the two of them never wavering as she puts a spoon full of mix and cereal into mouth. She then crunches them down. "...hrmmm." she added in a low throaty tone.

It doesn't take long before Sarah realizes who they are actually talking about. It's at the point, Molly can't hold it in any longer as she finally busts out laughing hysterically nearly spewing out the mixed concoction of milk and chewed cereal. Fortunately for the eldest Walker sibling and daughter, she quickly moved back before getting potentially spewed on. Afterwards, she places her free hand against her forehead once shutting her eyes. "Seriously you two!"

"Come on sweetheart. Just harmless fun is all. Besides..." Emma pauses to take another sip of her coffee. "...that man John Casey was kind of enough to pick you up after you called him. It was sweet that he called you his partner."

"So, I did call Casey." A look of absolute relief expressed all of her face.

"Yeah. Who did you think you called?" Molly asked. A slow devilish grin gradually appearing.

The name that quickly came to her mind nearly slipped out of her mouth. Thankfully it didn't, knowing full well she didn't want to give her mother and little sister the sweet satisfaction of confirming what they potentially already know. Instead, she pushes herself into a standing position and walks off heading towards the open entry stairway. Before she does, the somewhat haggard blonde announces her next move.

"Showering."

"I'll have breakfast ready for you when you're done."

"Thanks Mom." she responded lackadaisically waving back without looking behind her.

"You do that. Smell nice for your non date with Chuck."

"Hey, brat!"

"Yeah?" she responded. Her attention focused on her phone and replenished bowl of cereal.

"You're a pain in the ass."

"Language..." Molly retorted back without missing a beat. "...and I know."

As Sarah's reaches the bottom step of the stairway briefly shaking her head, the sound of her iPhone alerting her of incoming call leads her to check who it is. It doesn't take long for her answer it. "Ellie..." she said walking into and up the stairway. "...how's your head?" she added disappearing up and eventually out of sight. Meanwhile, Emma and Molly continue what they were doing before Sarah walked downstairs as if nothing had happened just a few moments ago.

XXX

It's around 10:05 a.m. in beautifully sunny Santa Monica, California. In Casa Bartowski, Chuck is sitting on the middle edge of his couch staring down at his coffee table where his phone is laying down on top of it. It's within reach but he isn't reaching for it or doing much of anything for that matter. He has his arms crossed and every so often he lifts his left arm in order to gnaw on his fingernails of his left hand, which is mainly his thumb. He suddenly shoots up into a standing position and turns to the right to where he takes a few steps to the left. Afterwards, he turns around taking a few steps to the right. His nervous, anxious and not to mention pensive energy shows how incredibly worked up he is when it comes to his impending hang out non date situation with Sarah. The nerdy business owner continues to pace back and forth totally transfixed on his phone sitting on the coffee table that he when he turns around, he nearly bowls over his bearded best friend.

"Whoa buddy! You all right there?" he half smiled holding out both arms defensively.

"Oh hey Morg." he stammered out.

Chuck slowly backs up not really knowing what to do with his hands. At first, he tries sticking them in the pockets of his Star Wars pajama bottoms. When that doesn't feel right, he takes them out placing them on the upper torso area of his Kessel Run Technologies t-shirt that he had designed for his company. For him, the sheer awkwardness of his hands on his upper torso leads him to suddenly drop his hands down to his side where he instinctively wipes them down on those same Star Wars pajama bottoms. As this is happening, Morgan is witnessing all of this unfolding right in front of him right now causing the bearded side kick to express a look of concern for his hetero life partner.

"Talk to me Chuck. First off..." he said reaching up to place his left hand on Chuck's left shoulder. In doing so, he can feel the tight tension to where he springs into action. "...breathe." encourage his best friend since childhood. It's then he helps him do some deep breathing in order to calm him down, which does the trick. Afterwards, he flashes an encouraging smile up towards his tall and lanky business partner as he further investigates what has gotten him so freaked out at the moment. "Is this about your da..." Instantly, he corrects himself after noticing Chuck pointing at him. "...NON date with Sarah?"

"Listen, I'm freaking out right now."

"Why?" retorted Morgan visibly confused. "She asked you to hang out remember."

"That's the problem."

In that moment, Morgan is unable to fathom for whatever reason as to why an absolutely beautiful woman such as Sarah would not be attracted to him. Granted, barring any good looking male models, actors, athletes, etc. aren't standing next to him he's got a decent enough shot at winning her over he thinks to himself. "Care to explain?"

"This defies the laws of nerd nature."

"I didn't know we nerds had laws..." retorted Morgan. "...or a nature for that matter." he added shaking his head visibly more confused than ever.

"It's unwritten." he stammered out once again. It's at this point he begins circling the living room seemingly lost within his own incoherent ramblings explain the so-called laws of nerd nature. "Something is off somehow. The nerd space time continuum has become unbalanced and shifting. This all started with Patrick Dempsey." Chuck added continuing to make his way around the couch. Morgan following fairly close behind him. "I blame him that rat bastard. The pain in my nerdy ass right now."

Morgan is absolutely perplexed at Chuck for being angry at the quintessential 80's nerdy icon. "How? Wait. What? Why?"

Morgan stops in his tracks when Chuck suddenly turns around and grabs both sides of arms. Pulls him in close to where he's uncomfortably close to his face. "Can't Buy Me Love. The Holy Grail of movies from 1987 for nerds. The popular girl ended up falling in love with unpopular nerdy guy."

"I'm with you so far."

Chuck releases the hold he has on Morgan and begins shaking his head. "When in the history of being a nerd has a guy like me has ever stood a chance with a girl. No..." Chuck quickly corrects himself. "...a woman like Sarah." he said pointing out indiscriminately into the unknown nerdy universe.

In his mind, there are a number of perfect examples where a smokin' hot woman ended up with not so stereotypical hot guy. So, after taking a few steps back, Morgan then lifts his right hand to where he begins listing them off one by one. "The Cars Ric Ocasek met and married model Paulina Porizkova. Sean Penn and Madonna. Sean Penn and Robin Wright. Quentin Tarantino and Mira Sorvino. For a brief moment Lyle Lovett married Julia Roberts. And..." he said raising his left thumb from other hand. "...any woman who willingly agreed to be in a relationship or marry Flavor Flav."

Chuck stands there actually impressed by Morgan rattling off the list of names that relate to his situation. He gets jolted back to reality when his best friend suddenly Gibbs slaps him upside the head. "Hey! What was the that for?"

"You're being totally ridiculous right now." He said shaking his head.

"Look who I'm talking to." Chuck quickly spit back.

"Touché." slightly nodded Morgan. "What were you even doing before you nearly ran into me anyways?" questioned Chuck's partner in crime.

"I was thinking of what to text her."

"That's it?" he shrugged not seeing the problem whatsoever.

"What do I say? How much do I say? Keep it short and simple? Wordy? Vague? Flirty? I don't know the proper protocol for this since she asked me to hang out. This is truly uncharted territory for me." Help me Obi Wan Fuzzbally..." pleaded Chuck with a hopeful tight-lipped smile. His hand locked together up and out in front of him. "...you're this nerdy nerfherder's only hope."

In that instance, Morgan's eyebrows are raised significantly high. "You must really need my help if you're that desperate." After a brief moment of silence, he speaks up. "Ok..." he nodded, lifting his right finger pointing it up to him. "...but be mindful of your thoughts nerdy nerfherder, so that they don't end up betraying you." Morgan prophetically added speaking in a bad British accent.

"Yes master." Chuck responded back with amusement. A slight head nod given.

Afterwards, both men quickly take their spot on the couch sitting on the edge staring at Chuck's iPhone. On the screen is Sarah's name with the cursor continually blinking on the ENTER MESSAGE section. After several seconds of starting at the empty section with the cursor blinking repeatedly, Morgan pipes up. "I got it."

"What?"

"How you doin?" he said in a suave tone of voice. His somewhat Scorsese like eyebrows doing a bit of dance with a flashy, charming smile directed to his tall, lanky best friend.

"That's the message you want me to send? 3 words made famous by Matt LeBlanc's character Joey Tribbiani from the hit series Friends."

"Hey, those 3 words if said right will get you the girl."

"Emphasis on the said part Morgan. Hello McFly..." Chuck reaches up to knock on Morgan's head a la Biff from the 2nd Back to The Future movie. "...think! Words tend to not translate well when they're in text form."

It takes a second for what Chuck said to completely hit Morgan. Afterwards, he shakes his shrugs his shoulders. "Well, you got anything better? Go ahead then because I got nothing." he said backing away and throwing his hands up to the side.

While sitting there on the edge of the couch, Chuck once again takes a moment for himself to just breathe. He does this a couple of times and deeply focuses on his intentions of what he wants to say without sounding stupid. After what seems like forever in a deeply focused state of mind, he's suddenly overcome with a familiar sensation that he's felt before in the past as it involved his father. If best describe it would a spine tingling sensation that ends with a sense of euphoric calm when it's all over. It then leads him to hear Morgan's voice causing him to turn his head.

"Hey, you sort of spaced out there for sec."

"Huh? Oh...yeah. I'm fine. Oddly clear headed for some reason." he shared shaking his head. "I'm just going to text her this." he said typing the words in. Once he's done the potential text being sent is shown to Morgan who looks it over. After a few seconds, he gives a slight nod of semi-approval.

After sending the text, the two wait not really knowing how quick of response Sarah will be given back. The two best friends turn to face each other wondering if the message sent will be deciphered in any way other than what Chuck genuinely tried to convey. The wait would be insanely excruciating mostly for Chuck as he and his bearded compadre sit there wondering how long it will be before she responds or if she does actually respond back for that matter. While sitting there, Chuck can feel the nervous energy building up inside him causing the nerdy business owner to stand up, slide to his right, and then turn in order to make his way behind the couch. As he does, the sound of a text notification bell alerts both men causing them to immediately react.

For the youngest Bartowski sibling, he leaps over the side of the couch without even thinking fully stretched out. His right hand reaching out to take hold of his iPhone. Unfortunately, he ends up crashing and burning as he finds himself toppling down hard into the area between the couch and coffee table. As for Morgan, his reaction was far different. He simply picks the phone up and lifts it up above his head in order to make the exchange like a track runner smoothly handing off the baton to his teammate at a relay race. However, that didn't go down as he planned when he suddenly sees Chuck on his back down by his feet causing him to do a quick, momentary double take from the floor to back behind him. His arm still raised above his head completely and utterly baffled while doing so.

Morgan is about to check on him, when his brother not related by blood suddenly pops up and sits right next to him as if what just all unfolded not seconds ago didn't happen. Speaking of Chuck, he reaches up and plucks the phone from his childhood friend's right hand leading both men to lock their attention on the screen to read following message sent back:

Thanks.
Hoping yours is too.
Slow but getting better.
Looking forward to it! :D

Address:
Maison23
391 North Pass Ave Unit #4F
Culver City, CA 90232

Unit# listed at entrance. Buzz you in.

After staring at the message in what seemed like an eternity, Chuck breaks his focus on the text from Sarah to Morgan sitting right beside him. "That was easy." he stated expressing a crooked smile. For Morgan, his only response is just rolling his eyes then getting off the couch and walking off.

XXX

In that same time frame. *Sarah's point of view*

After a refreshing 15 minute shower, Sarah is in her bathroom wearing only a towel that's tightly wrapped just above her chest and falls just below the top of her knees. She's takes a moment to wipe her bathroom mirror from all the condensation building on it since it was a relatively hot but incredibly soothing shower experience. A shower that immensely helped lessen the throbbing pain of headache resulting from all the wine she consumed with Ellie last night. Of course, even though she may have admittedly overdone it a bit she had an awesome time despite not being able remember much of it, which was partly the topic of discussion when she called her. The two spoke providing each other information what the other recalled or couldn't quite remember during, as well as after the night on the town. Plus, it's was truly an experience that she hasn't had in quite a long time being that it was mostly about focusing on business instead of going out to have fun. The conversation itself would then end and eventually she would immerse herself in some much needed water therapy.

In any case, while standing there in front of her bathroom mirror staring at her own reflection in which another towel is shown. A towel that is wrapped around her blonde locks. As she reaches for her hair dryer sitting on the bathroom counter off to her left along with many items strewn about, the sound of knock on her bedroom door. It prompts her to turn her attention away from the hair dyer and to whoever is knocking. Sarah takes a step to her right then leans over to give a response.

"Yeah?" It's at the point, the bedroom door and in walks her sister. "What's up?"

"How's your head?" inquired the 13 year old. She places the phone in her right hand and places it the back pocket of jean shorts.

"Better. The shower helped a lot." she said removing the towel from around her head. The woman's blonde's locks still a bit wet and then steps out into her bedroom to speak with her little sister. In doing so, she places the same towel that was tightly covering her hair around then grips both ends with her hands. "My breakfast ready?"

"Yup. You better hurry and come down before I end up eating it."

"You're such a brat. Do it and you die sis." Sarah playfully threatened pointing to the teenager. A faint chuckle expressed as she reaches up with her right hand raking her fingers through her hair.

The two siblings are about to part ways when they suddenly hear the sound of a text notification bell alerting both females. It causes the 13 year old to react in a very Pavlovian way as he reaches behind her to check her phone. "It's not mine. Yours then."

"It's probably Ellie." retorted Sarah heading back into her bathroom. "Do me a favor and grab my phone." she requested.

Molly stands there for a moment looking around the chaos that is her big sister's room with clothes laying all over the place. In her mind, it pales in comparison to the so called disaster area that is her own room that her Mom orders her to clean. For the youngest walker sibling, it's a point of contention between mother and daughter to where not only her civil liberties are violated, but it infringes on her freedom of expression. Unfortunately, it's those discussions that always go in her mother's favor and all she can really do is protest like any normal teenager would until a mutually beneficial agreement is made, which will never happen, she thinks to herself. In any case, she sets her thoughts aside concerning being held down by an authoritative parental figure and refocuses on the task at hand.

"Where is it?"

"I tossed it on my bed. It should be there." Sarah answered from inside her bathroom. The sound of a dryer suddenly turning on.

The youngest Walker sibling walks up and stops at the foot of her bed. She does a quick scan of pillows, sheets, comforter, and clothes all seemingly blended together in after seemingly chaotic aftermath of wine induced slumber. She stands there briefly and the decides to prematurely give up on the search after only looking for a few seconds. "I..." It's the only word she gets up when she suddenly spots her big sister's phone sticking out from underneath a crumbled up red sleeveless v neck top. "...nevermind. Found it!"

"What!?" she hollered back. The sound of the dryer drowning out her voice from within the bathroom.

"Found it."

"What!?"

"I said you need to get your ears checked!" She picks it up and when she turns around in order to bring it Sarah, she suddenly stops after seeing who the text is actually from. "Chuck sent you a text." she hollered into the bathroom.

Once again, the sound of the dryer drowns out what Molly informed of concerning the text. It wouldn't be long before the dryer turns off again and Sarah sticks her head from out her open bathroom doorway. "I do not need to get my ears checked." she playfully fired back.

"Oh, that you heard. Not Chuck sent you a text." she retorted back holding up her phone.

Sarah's eyes suddenly widen upon hearing the latter of that sentence. "Chuck texted me?" she blurted out. Her voice, a mixture of restraint and eagerness to where she takes a small moment before continuing on. "Ummm, what did he say?"

"He had to cancel. Something came up. He'll explain later." she quickly shared.

It's at that point, all of Sarah...not just her head...is in full view standing within the open doorway frame of her bathroom. The towel still tightly wrapped around her body. "You're joking...right?" eyeing the 13 year old from where she's standing.

As much as Molly would like to torture her big sister more, she doesn't want to encounter that scary look she saw from Friday night. "I am." she dryly replied back. It's fortunate that her eyes peered back down once again to Chuck's text because she narrowly avoided locking eyes with a very angry blonde woman. The look of the Wildcard Enforcer staring her down. "It actually says - 'Good morning. Hope your day is awesome so far. C-ya tonight.' A smile emoji at the end of it."

Upon hearing that text being read off by Molly, the anger on her face suddenly softens to where it's replaced with a heartfelt smile. A smile that is hiding so much more of a mix bag of emotions that are considered considerably overwhelming. To where exactly she has no earthly idea, she thinks to herself. "Very thoughtful of him to do."

"If you say so sis." Molly said shaking her head. What happens next is so unlike what she's ever experienced or even prepared for when she says the following 9 words. "I'll go ahead and text him back for you."

Once those words came out of Molly's mouth, Sarah takes action and launches herself in the air at her little sister. In doing so, Molly takes immediate notice of this from out of her peripheral vision and ducks out of the way narrowly escaping a clothesline tackle. While craning her neck upward, she momentarily locks eyes with the woman she's related to nicknamed the Wildcard Enforcer sail above and over to her bed. After landing on it with the towel around her still intact, all her forward momentum combined with the looseness of the bed linens on top of it causes her to fall over towards the left side of it. As for Molly, she quickly pops straight back up into a standing position having no idea what just happened or is happening for that matter. "Are you okay?" she called out over to her.

"I'm fine." Sarah painfully responded from the floor on the other side of her bed. Her body nearly covered with pillows, clothes and bed linens.

"Dude..." The confused and befuddled teenager stands on the other of her big sister's bed trying to comprehend her crazy actions just now. "...what gives!? I'm just going to text What's up! Add Had headache. Such a pain. Gone now. Dinner with your sis. Then end with Can't wait! Boom!." Molly listed off. The 13 year old then turns around in order to focus on the text she intends to send.

Unfortunately, she wouldn't get the chance to when she suddenly feels a sudden pain in her the area of her right butt cheek. It's a seemingly sharp, stinging pain that gets her attention causing the feisty adolescent to rise on her tip toes. As she slowly, on tip toes, turns around, she sees Sarah standing on top of her bed with the towel that was hanging around her neck now twisted lengthwise into a weapon of some sort in her line of sight. After taking a moment to massage her right butt cheek, she returns her attention back to her big sister. "Did you just towel snap me!? That hurt." whined the precocious young lady. "What for!?"

"To stop you from sending whatever you were going to send." she quickly stammered out. The towel hanging down from her neck once again. Sarah snatches the phone from her sister's hands and then instantly drops herself down into a seated position. After briefly bouncing on top of her bed, she takes a quick moment to retighten the towel wrapped around her for strategic purposes of course. She then focuses on the message she's going to send instead of Molly. "I don't want him to know all that. He'll start asking questions."

"What? Why?" In that moment, Molly comes to a sudden realization. "Chuck doesn't know you had dinner with Ellie. Does he?" Sarah shakes her head acknowledging her little sister's line of question. "So, you just basically did some Facebook stalking by getting info from his sister. Very sneaky sis." grinned the 13 year old.

"Thanks...I guess." Her focus on Molly is then directed back to her phone as she carefully thinks of the words she wants to type out. Plus, pertinent information as well. After she's done, it's sent. "Ok. Phheew. Avoided a major disaster there." she added breathing out a huge sigh of relief.

Afterwards, Molly sits herself down next to Sarah sharing a brief moment of silence. The young woman is about to say something to her sister when their attention is directed to the open bedroom doorway. "Sarah your breakfast is getting cold..." Emma walks in and takes a moment to scan her oldest daughter's messy room. "...and what have we here. What did you two do? Have a fight?" Emma laughed shaking her head. The matriarch of the Walker clan consisting of 2 daughter starts going around the room picking up clothes off the floor left there last night. All Molly and Sarah could do was respond the only way they could knowing their mother wasn't too far from the truth...bust out laughing.

XXX

It's 6:50 p.m. PST and Chuck is in his 2006 white Ford Falcon 2 door XR6 Turbo. A car fit for a self professed nerd that has immersed himself in the world of Star Wars hence the choice made in his mode of transportation. Of course, it's a nerd out moment for him any time he hops into the so called cockpit of his own version of the millennium falcon, especially when his bearded best friend Morgan Grimes rides shotgun. Also, having the following customized front license tag: KESL 12 PS RUN shows not only how big a Star Wars fan he is, but is an awesome way to promote his business as well. For him, it's a feeling that will never really go away no matter what age or how old he gets because when you're a nerd you're a nerd for life he thinks to himself.

His thoughts of living the nerd life inevitably turn to the all-out beauty that is Sarah Walker who he still can't fathom as to why she asked him of all people to hang out with her. True, it was most definitely a gesture offered in regards to making it up for accusing him along his bearded partner in crime of being 2 highly suspicious individuals that were supposedly up to no good. Far from truth of what he was actually there for he thinks to himself. In any case, as much as he was flattered by her olive branch that he absolutely didn't expect to ever have happen he accepted it with some reluctance on his part. To him, there is still a part of him that still can't quite grasp that a caliber of woman such as her would ever give him any kind of attention whatsoever. It's the kind of attention that is the total opposite of what he's imagined and not to mention watched for years when it comes movies like Revenge of the Nerds.

Essentially, its movies like that reveal the painful albeit underlying message that just being yourself is considered to be a double-edged sword. On one hand, being smart and passionate about what you know, as well as love doing is something nobody can take away from you. In other words, it brings you happiness. However, on the other side of the spectrum it can certainly be a point of contention for those who find great joy in tearing down what makes any person nerd out pertaining to books, movies, games, computers, etc. The nerdy business owner of Kessel Run Technologies knows all too well the stigma that has unceremoniously placed on him like a scarlet letter when it comes to being known as a nerd. Yet, he wears that aforementioned scarlet letter proudly like a giant pin he got from San Diego Comic Con.

It's not long before his thoughts concerning all things nerd are set aside as he reaches his destination, which was 30 minutes away from Casa Bartowski. After getting out of his car, he makes his way to the main entrance of the gated Condo. He quickly notices the list of names and the unit numbers right beside them. It wouldn't take long for Chuck to search then find what he was looking for...WALKER 4F. While standing there, he's feeling a mixture of anxiety, fear, and overall sense of dread. Yet, he musters every bit of inner strength and courage to see this through, especially knowing that Ellie encouraged him to do this. In his mind, she's the one person who has been able to shoot straight with him and tell it like it is even when it's something that truly hits you hard in the chest. Most of the time she's right and that's most the annoying thing about her he thinks to himself.

Yet, he loves her because she's pushed him when he didn't have the motivation to push himself. It's something he'll forever be grateful for and will pay it forward back to her someday and that someday is right now he thinks to himself. What do I have to lose? It's not really a date so there's no pressure at all or high expectations. Just 2 people hanging out. It's at the point, he presses the button whereby signal Sarah that he's arrived at the condo. He wouldn't have to wait long as he suddenly hears a familiar voice coming from the intercom. "Chuck?"

"Yeah, hey Sarah. I'm outside."

"Come on up!"

A buzzer sounds off leading Chuck to quickly reach over to open the gate and steps through making sure it shuts behind him before heading up the stairs. He then heads towards and in through the main entrance of the Condo. After a few moments, the elevator dings as it stops on the 4th floor. When he steps out, tall, lanky nerd looks left then right but would end up looking straight ahead at the unit number chart on the wall in front of the elevator. After taking a quick scan of it, he turns left and heads down towards his intended location. When he finally finds 4F, he takes a moment to stand in front of Sarah's door doing some deep breathing exercises. Once he feels ready, he reaches up and knocks on the door. While standing there, he reaches up with his right hand palm side up in order to do a quick fresh breath check but would quickly drop it as the door suddenly opens. A nervous, crooked smile is expressed as he sees Sarah standing there expressing a smile of her own towards him.

XXX

NOTE: I would like to give a big thanks to NEVR for agreeing to and becoming my BETA reader. With that said, I hope you enjoyed this chapter because I had a blast writing it. I intentionally stopped there because it leaves you wanting more. So many potential questions that many of you want answered and trust me they will be. As always, leave a comment and share your thoughts.