Sarah woke up in an empty bed, but this didn't surprise her. Chuck had probably been wide away for a while already. In fact, it seemed he'd already been out and come back again as well, since she saw two lattes and a brown paper bag sitting on the side table.
"Good morning, sleepyhead," Chuck's voice made her roll over to see him standing beside the bed.
"What time is it?" Sarah replied.
"Eight o'clock," Chuck chirped. "I brought you a coffee."
"I saw," she said, sitting up and reaching for her latte. "Thanks!"
"What would you like to do today?" Chuck asked.
"Sleep more," Sarah replied.
"Alright, if you like," Chuck said. "I'll be back later then."
"Don't go!" Sarah whined, reaching up to grab him.
"You want me to stay and watch you sleep?" Chuck asked with a laugh.
"How about you stay and we don't sleep?" Sarah suggested.
"Yes, yes, good plan," Chuck said as he came back to sit on the bed beside her. "And don't take this the wrong way, but we've been doing that for the last two days."
"True," Sarah said with a giggle. "In our defense, it has been raining for the last two days."
Chuck gestured to the window. "But the sun is actually shining today."
"So it is," Sarah agreed. "A walk on the beach, then?"
Chuck nodded and then added, "And we have dinner at my parents tonight. Dad's back from his business trip."
"Oh yeah," Sarah said, perking up. "It's friday isn't it. I totally lost track of the days of the week."
"That happens when you spend two days in a hotel room," Chuck reminded her.
"Hey, you weren't complaining," she reminded him.
"Was definitely not a complaint," Chuck agreed. "Just a statement of fact."
Sarah giggled and kissed him before taking another sip of her coffee. The warm caffeinated liquid was doing wonders at making her feel more awake.
"I'm looking forward to meeting your dad tonight," Sarah said. "What's he like?"
A small part of her was nervous. The rest of Chuck's family had accepted her, but she had a funny feeling that something was going to be different this time.
"His name is Stephen and don't look so worried," Chuck said. "He's all bark and no bite, promise."
"What do you mean bark?" she asked.
"Dad can be very cranky if you wake him up in the middle of the night, but he always forgets everything come morning and is his usual loving self."
"What if he barks at me?" Sarah asked.
"It's dinner, not a sleepover," Chuck explained. "I doubt you will have the opportunity to be his unwanted alarm clock."
"The Unwanted Alarm Clock," Sarah sniggered. "Coming to theaters this fall." Chuck laughed.
"Everything will be fine," Chuck told her. "I promise." He leaned in and kissed her again before opening the brown bag.
Inside were two bagels. They ate them and finished their coffees before getting up and ready for the day.
Chuck tried to take a shower, but Sarah interrupted him and then they both needed another shower. Eventually though, they were both dressed and ready to leave.
They walked to the beach talking of nothing in particular. Sarah was so comfortable with Chuck now. She asked him about his video games and they talked about how lovely the weather was today. The sun really had come out to shine on them.
"Now that I think about it, there must be a story about how you learned that your father hates being woken up in the middle of the night?" Sarah remarked on their walk.
"Ah yes, there is," Chuck said. "But it isn't exactly a good story. Morgan and I were playing video games all night one summer and made way too much noise. Dad came out all mad."
"I think anyone would be mad in that case," Sarah replied.
"True, but not everyone sets up a noise activated light in the hall so we would be able to see when we were too loud in future," Chuck explained.
Sarah burst out laughing. "He really did that?" she asked.
"He really did," Chuck sighed. "It was blue and looked a bit like those static electricity things at the science center."
"You dad sounds amazing," Sarah said.
"Yeah, I guess he is," Chuck replied with a thoughtful smile.
Once they reached the beach, Sarah took off her sandals and sank her toes into the sand. There was something about the way sand felt between one's toes that Sarah could not get enough of.
They walked for a ways down the beach before stopping to sit on the sand and really take in the view.
Around lunch time, they found a cafe that served a light meal before heading back to the hotel to get cleaned up for dinner.
Sarah helped Chuck get out of his sandy clothes. He thanked her with a kiss and then Sarah found herself rather removed of her own garments, as well.
"This is not getting us ready for dinner," Chuck laughed. They were laying on the bed again, naked under the blankets.
"It isn't even three o' clock yet," Sarah said.
"I told mom we'd be there at four," Chuck replied. "And it's basically three o'clock."
Sarah turned to check the time. It was one minute to three.
"Okay, fair point," she laughed. "Race you to the shower!"
She sat bolt upright and darted to the bathroom, with Chuck just barely a second behind her. Together they rinsed the sand and sweat from their bodies before toweling off and getting dressed.
Chuck changed into something from his bag, but Sarah was having a hard time choosing what to wear.
"You would be stunning in a paper bag," Chuck told her.
"I am not wearing a paper bag to meet your father," Sarah stated firmly. She rummaged around in her suitcase again. The weather was nice, so perhaps one of her sundresses. If only she had her full wardrobe here. There was this one little number she had tucked away in the back of her closet in Toronto.
Sarah selected two of her sundresses and held them up for Chuck to see. "Which one would be better?" she asked.
The infuriating man looked at them and said she would look beautiful in either one. Then he kissed her.
"Well, you're no help," Sarah said.
"Should we flip a coin?" he asked, laughing. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and his laughter died as he viewed the screen. "Either is fine, but we have to go, or we will be late."
With a sigh, Sarah picked the blue sundress with her light green wrap. After slipping them on, she strapped her feet into her sandals and they were off.
They arrived at the Bartowski's for dinner just on time, at one minute after four. Chuck didn't knock. He just walked in with Sarah trailing behind. They found Mary in the kitchen.
"Your father's out on the patio," Mary told Chuck when he asked where his dad was.
The man Sarah saw when she walked out onto the patio could only have been Chuck's father. He had the same colour hair as the darker layers of Chuck's hair. The biggest difference was the amount of hair. Stephen's hair was thinner and cut short, but he wasn't going bald. Stephen had a pair of glasses on the end of his nose and was sitting reading a book.
"Hello," Stephen said, waving at them without looking up from his book. Sarah and Chuck sat down on two patio chairs to the left of him.
"Hey, dad," Chuck replied. "This is Sarah." It was then that Stephen looked up and, if Sarah's eyes weren't deceiving her, did a double take.
"Sas-rah," Stephen said as if he'd been about to say Saz, and changed it to Sarah half way through.
Sarah was trying not to panic. Why would Stephen Bartowski, of all people, know her silly romance woman-power preteen music?
"Yeah," Chuck said, squirming in his chair a little.
"My wife neglected to mention your name," Stephen continued. "What brought you into town?" He had a very forced air about him, as if trying not to say something.
"Vacation," Sarah replied warily. She had no idea what to do here. Unlike Morgan, there was no doubt in her mind that Stephen had recognized her.
"From?" Stephen asked seriously. Sarah had a feeling Stephen knew the answer to his question was her concert in Toronto, and was just trying to make Sarah admit it. This was so not good!
"Sarah sings," Chuck explained.
"Chuck," Mary's voice called through the open door. "Would you come help me in the kitchen for a moment, please?" Chuck looked at Sarah slightly worried about leaving her alone with his father, but after an encouraging smile from Sarah, Chuck got up and went to help his mother.
The moment they were alone, Stephen exclaimed, "You nearly gave me a heart attack. Why would Saz be in my house?" Stephen shook his head, exasperated. "I thought I'd fallen asleep."
"I promise you're definitely awake," Sarah laughed nervously.
"I would ask you to sign my entire collection of your CDs, but first the father in me must ask why Chuck doesn't seem to know who you are?"
"I-" Sarah started, but her face fell. "I don't have a good answer."
"I see," Stephen said gently. "That doesn't reassure me."
"I am not lying to him, though," Sarah continued.
"Oh so you aren't Saz, the internationally famous pop star who hasn't been seen in public since a concert in Toronto three weeks ago?" Stephen inquired, clearly trying not to laugh.
"Did you google me?" Sarah asked perplexed.
"I have a celebrity news app on my phone," Stephen admitted, only slightly embarrassed. "And I might follow you on Twitter, but we aren't talking about me right now. I am, for the moment, not a fan, but a parent. Why haven't you told him?"
With a sigh of defeat Sarah said, "I came here to try and get over my writer's block. Just a little me-time vacation, but then I met Chuck…and well…" Words failed her. What should she say? Was it alright to tell Chuck's father she thought she might be falling in love with his son before she had even told Chuck? Stephen seemed to catch the note of affection in her voice and his posture softened slightly before he spoke.
"You care about him," Stephen translated. Sarah didn't know how to answer, but Stephen seemed to take her silence as confirmation.
"I promise I haven't lied to him," she repeated.
"If you say so," Stephen replied. "But he doesn't know what he's getting into, which amounts to the same thing."
"He doesn't like being in the spotlight," Sarah defended herself.
"If I posted that you are in my house," Stephen said. "I'd get noticed. I can't imagine the kind of attention dating you gets one into."
"That's what worries me," Sarah replied, unable to conceal the fear in her voice.
"Chuck has to make that decision for himself," Stephen said. "And I'm sorry, but if you don't tell him, I will."
"You're right," Sarah signed, accepting the terrifying prospect. "I'll tell him."
She wanted to protect Chuck, to protect whatever it was between them, but Stephen was right. She couldn't protect Charles from rumors or reporters. She couldn't protect her relationship from her career.
"Good," Stephen said. "Now I have all your CDs. Would you sign them for me?"
"Sure," Sarah replied. "Thank you for letting me tell him myself."
"My study is this way," Stephen said. He got up and headed into the house.
After a seconds of hesitation, Sarah followed him, looking down at her feet. A moment later she found herself in what was unmistakable the study of a collector. Stephen had so many clocks, the room seemed to tick. He had somehow managed to synchronize them so they all ticked at the same time. Sarah couldn't help but be impressed. There was a large desk in the corner, a filing cabinet next to it, and an entire wall of CDs opposite. It stretched nearly from floor to ceiling. Sarah could only stare.
Stephen moved over to his wall of CDs and selected a few from near the middle. "I would like to kindly request that you sign all of these for me. Oh, and I also have a poster somewhere." He was grinning like a kid in a candy store, and though it was very strange, Sarah couldn't help but smile. His enthusiasm reminded her of Chuck.
Stephen handed her both a gold and silver sharpie pen and she did her best to sign all the CDs. When she was done he handed her the poster which she also signed. Then Sarah could hear Chuck's voice calling for her. Stephen gestured for her to go, and Sarah quickly left the room.
"Oh, there you are," Chuck said as he ran into her in the hallway.
"Your dad was showing me his clock collection," Sarah said.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Chuck groaned.
"No, it's alright," Sarah smiled at him. "It's really rather an impressive collection. What did your mom need?"
"A step stool," Chuck replied. "But instead, she called me to reach the top shelf."
"Such a helpful son you are," Sarah told him with a smile.
"More like a tall one," Chuck sighed.
With a smile on her face, Sarah took his arm and together they walked back down the hall and into the kitchen.
It turned out that when Mary made pizza, she even made the dough from scratch. It also turned out that when she made dinner for the whole family, Morgan appeared as if from thin air. The fact that Mary had a pizza shell ready for him spoke volumes about how very much included into the family Chuck's friend was. For every two people Mary had made one pizza and everyone got to put toppings on their half of the pizza.
Sarah and Chuck shared one. She put all the toppings on her half except for the olives and then sprinkled some cheese on top.
"Don't like olives, huh?" Chuck observed.
"Guilty," Sarah replied.
Once they were done the pizza's went into the oven two at a time. Mary had a veggie tray set out and people stood around talking and snacking while they waited for dinner.
Dinner itself was another wonderful evening of amazing food, teasing, laughter, jokes, telling stories, and dessert served with tea on the patio. The more time Sarah spent with Chuck's family, the more she loved them. Never before had she been in the company of such a warm and affectionate group, so ready to accept her without a moment's hesitation. To an orphan, this felt like a dream.
The conversation and laughter didn't end until people started going to bed. Chuck told his family good night once his sister and Devon headed off to sleep.
Sarah thanked Mary for the meal one more time for good measure, before allowing Chuck to guild her out the door. Then they were outside together, walking hand in hand back to her hotel.
Now that they were alone, she couldn't stop thinking about her promise to Stephen. She was so nervous that Chuck would react badly. She'd noticed at dinner that he didn't even like to be the center of attention among his own family. When Chuck was being teased by his sister, he'd quickly turn the joke around on them to avoid being the topic of conversation.
As they reached the hotel, Sarah tried to think of how to explain it in such a way that Chuck wouldn't freak out.
"I think that went very well," Chuck said as he closed the hotel room door behind them. Sarah knew this was the perfect time to calmly explain the level of success she'd obtained in her career, why she'd kept the secret originally, and why she'd still been keeping it all this time.
"It did," Sarah replied, putting off what she should be saying. "Your family is lovely."
Chuck smiled. "You can't pick your family," he said. "But I think I would have chosen them, even if I'd had the option."
She smiled, memorizing the shape of his face, the way he smiled first with one side of his mouth than the other. What if he left once she told him? What if he couldn't handle the income difference? Spotlight? All of it? What if her keeping her promise to Stephen meant saying goodbye to Chuck?
Sarah couldn't help but be paralyzed with fear. She knew she had to do it, but she didn't know how to begin or if she could say the words that would drive him away.
Then Chuck crossed the short distance between them and scooped her up into his arms, spinning her around the room so her feet gently bumped the lamp by the bed. Setting her down again, Chuck held her face in his hands and kissed her with a joy she hadn't felt in him before. His hands moved down to her waist holding her close.
And suddenly communicating just how many record sales she had didn't seem like such a big deal. Couldn't they just be two people who wanted to be together? The way he was kissing her made Sarah feel like nothing else mattered. Such minor details as her cult following didn't feel important right now. All that mattered was being here with Chuck. This moment.
"I want you," Chuck gasped, into their kiss. His hand under her clothes were making her heart pound, and Sarah decided confessions could wait until morning.
"I'm yours," she whispered back.
She had never felt like she belonged to anyone like this before. Sex to her had never been about giving herself to someone, but rather about enjoying the activity. There was something possessive in the way Chuck held her. It felt like he wanted her and only her. For the first time, she reveled in a man's desire to possess her. Usually it repelled her, but with Chuck, she was already totally and completely his; it felt right.
They fell backward into the bed together, as they both worked at removing the other's clothing. As bare skin touched skin, their breathing became erratic. Though they'd been together many times already, this felt somehow different.
Chuck was more confident, more affectionate, taking the time to slowly kiss her skin, hold her breasts. There was a serenity in just having him near her that she'd never experienced before with a lover. Sarah could only compare the soaring feeling with that of being on stage, cheered on by thousands, but even that wasn't right. This was so much more.
And Sarah knew that she was not just falling in love with Charles Bartowski. She was already in love with him in a way she'd never before known. At that moment, she wanted to say it, to scream it to the heavens, but she didn't. Instead she cried out his name as they both collapsed together on the bed, panting.
As the sweat on their skin began to cool, Sarah reached down and pulled a blanket up over them. Chuck's arms held her tight and she closed her eyes. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been so comfortable. The gentle pressure of his body against hers accompanied with the skin on skin contact was so pleasant.
Chuck fell asleep at once, having woken that morning much sooner than her. Sarah lay there for a while, content to listen to him breathing before falling asleep herself.
The version of Stephen in this story is dedicated to my late father. He loved pop singers like Katy Perry and Taylor Swift and collected clocks which he kept in perfect sync with each other. Also when I was a kid, he did in fact buy a noise-activated light to try and stop me and my friends from waking him up in the middle of the night during school vacations.
Next Chapter might surprise you. New one time pov before the turning point! tehehe