Chapter 7
A/N: Last time, I thought, I’ve gone too far. Two days and their kids are calling the other Mama and Daddy. And yet no one seems to mind. Some PM’d me about it being unrealistic, but they didn’t mind. There’s actually a reason how that all happened, and you’ll find out soon. There’s a little angst this chapter, but nothing much. Let’s be honest, this is fluff, and if you’ve gotten this far, you probably like it, and we’ll all keep the secret, because we’re all friends here. Thank you for all the love, because good grief, it is flowing in. It’s the one you’ve been waiting for, Piranha Returns…..
Disclaimer: I don’t own Chuck, nunchucks, chuck wagon, or ground chuck.
Chuck went to get in the passenger seat of his car when he realized Sarah was right beside him.
“Perhaps you should drive,” she said. Chuck went around the car and got in. “Mind if I connect my phone to your Bluetooth?” she asked.
“Go right ahead,” he said, starting the car. A few minutes later she was done, he looked over at her, and she was smirking.
“You know it’s hard to find your favorite song,” she said. “What do you think of this?” Nina Simone’s Feeling Good began to play.
“That’s a good one, but to call it your favorite, that’s a big step,” he said, glancing at her. She was staring at him.
“I think I found the one,” she said, never taking her eyes off of him. Chuck nodded for a second, and he found the courage to find his voice.
“You know, the way you say that, one could think you’re talking about all sorts of things,” he said. Sarah never answered, she just held his hand, and had a smile on her face that Chuck couldn’t describe. He pulled up to Burton Industries, right beside her car. She leaned over and kissed him.
“See you at lunch?” she asked.
“Mind if I walk you in?” he asked not wanting to go. She smiled, and moved her head as if to say, “come on.” They got out of the car, and Sarah took his hand. They walked into the building.
“Hey, guys!” Alex said, smiling at the two. “Morgan called me to tell you he has good news.”
“We got certified?” Chuck asked. Alex put her finger to her lips, but nodded. “Yes,” he said, pumping his fist. “Now I can really relax this weekend.”
“So the game is done?” Sarah asked. Chuck shrugged.
“We’ll get some more beta testers on it to try and find any bugs, and we’ll be waiting for reports once the game launches to make patches, but one of the problems we have is, we take forever to get a game out because it’s just the two of us, and we want it right. Big companies just push them out, and patch them later. I’d rather get it our right than make some deadline the public thinks of.”
“Is the company…” she started and then trailed off. Chuck smiled and took her hands.
“You can ask me anything,” he said. “To answer what I think you’re asking, we’re doing okay. We could do better, and part of it was my fault with Ellie, Devon, and Clara a few months ago. I got distracted by a personal project as well, and well..” He trailed off, and Sarah stepped to him and hugged him. He was okay, and didn’t need it, but he wasn’t about to turn down a Sarah Walker hug.
“Hate to interrupt, Sarah, but the package you were waiting for came in; it’s on your desk,” Alex said.
“Thanks,” Sarah said smiling. The door opened and they both turned.
“Mrs. McNeally,” Chuck said, smiling. He walked over and hugged her.
“Charles Bartowski, it is so good to see you. Do you work here?” she asked. Chuck smiled and shook his head.
“No, but I know the owner pretty well,” Chuck said looking at Sarah. Sarah tilted her head and smiled, as if to say “really”.
“Pretty well, Chuck?” Sarah asked, walking over and putting her arm around him. Chuck smiled at her. “I would hope so, being your girlfriend and all.” Chuck kept his mouth from dropping, and Alex had to contain her laughter at Chuck. “Alex, can you show Mrs. McNeally to the conference room? I need to take care of a few things and I’ll be right there.”
“It’s fine, dear, I’m early. Take care of whatever you need to. Good to see you again Charles,” Mrs. McNeally said. Chuck waived at her.
“Nice cover, there Mrs. Walker,” Chuck said smiling. “I like how you got on her good side.” Sarah gave him a look.
“Cover?” Sarah asked. “Chuck, my kid is calling you Daddy, we are talking about spending the weekend together and you not being gentlemanly, you spent the night at my house, your head in my lap, and mine on your chest holding you so you wouldn’t freak out. Maybe we’ve not had the physical part of a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, but I’d say we’ve had all the emotional, plus some.”
“But, we haven’t even been on a date,” Chuck countered, laughing.
“Chuck, some would say we’ve been on two,” Sarah replied. It was at that moment they both remembered what the third date usually entailed. They got the same worried look on their faces at the same time and they both started laughing seeing it on the other. “Perhaps that wasn’t the best choice of words.”
“You’re the one who keeps talking about me being ungentlemanly,” Chuck said. “But, seriously, do you want me to stay for this meeting. I can help.” Sarah laid a hand on his chest.
“I’m sure you could, but you want to keep Clara safe,” Sarah said. Chuck thought about saying something, but sighed and decided not to. He gave her a soft kiss, turned, and stopped. He turned around.
“So does this mean I’m your boyfriend?” Chuck asked.
“Are you ready for those responsibilities?” Sarah asked.
“I’m not sure what they entail,” Chuck admitted.
“Most boyfriends don’t,” Sarah replied, smiling.
“Chuck Bartowski, Sarah Walker’s boyfriend,” Chuck said, and grinned. “I like the sound of that.”
“Careful, Chuck, you’ve just invoked all the responsibilities,” Sarah said grinning.
“I’m ready,” he said. Sarah walked over and kissed him. When they broke apart, she held his hands.
“Let me know what you find out about her if you can,” Chuck said. “She was an amazing teacher, and doesn’t deserve this.” Sarah nodded.
“Soon as I’m done, I’ll call,” Sarah said. “Maybe finalize those lunch plans.” She winked at him, turned and went back to her office. Chuck left and drove to work. Sarah picked up the folder on her desk. She leafed through it, but there wasn’t much. A few facts and theories stuck out. Piranha hadn’t really been heard from in nine years. Sarah found that interesting, that was about the time Chuck was kicked out of Stanford. It was rumored that he had a thinking juice, Chardonnay. But the thing that stood out, Piranha never took anything for himself. Most were pranks, sometimes he broke into databases, and left them with better security than they had before he had broke in. Chuck had joked he had fixed their security yesterday. She picked up her phone and called Skip. After Skip stammered and stuttered for a few minutes, he said, yes, they did now have better encryption. Sarah hung up and stared at the folder.
“Chuckkkkk,” she said softly. “What am I going to do with you?” She thought about it for a second, and a smile came to her face, and then she felt the blush run up her, and she stopped. She went to the conference room and held the meeting with Mrs. McNeally. Casey and Carina weren’t required to attend, but usually one, if not both did. Neither showed. After they were done, Sarah walked her out, went to Skip, gave him the info to see what he could do, he didn’t believe he could do anything, and went to see if she could find her partners. She turned a corner and heard a noise coming out of a supply closet. Sarah opened the door, and wished she hadn’t.
“OH MY GOD!” she screamed and slammed the door shut. Alex ran down the hallway and found Sarah, disgust covering her face. “Stop!” Sarah said.
“Is everything okay, Sarah?”
“No, nothing is okay, and it never will be again. Don’t go in there, in fact, come with me to my office.” The two walked away. The door cracked open and Carina and Casey looked to make sure the coast was cleared and ran the other way. Sarah went in and sat down on her sofa. Alex sat across from her at the table in her office. Sarah had her hands in her head.
“Was it that bad?” she asked. Sarah shivered.
“Yes, no, I don’t know, I’m stuck and don’t know what to do,” Sarah said.
“You love him.” Alex said. Sarah brought her head up like she was shot. She couldn’t find the words, and Alex just grinned at her. “I know what the problem is,” she said. Sarah chuckled.
“Well, tell me.”
“Are you sure?” Sarah nodded. “Okay,” Alex began. “Your daughter and mother love him, they’ve known him for three months and they think he’s the greatest guy ever. Casey knows him, and respects and likes him. I’ve known him for two months and I think he’s great. Morgan worships the ground he walks on. You’ve only known him two days and already know how great he is, but you think it’s too soon. You think it’s not possible. You’ve got feelings you don’t know what to do with and you have two children to think about, but they are the ones who are driving this. They love both of you. Deep down, you love him, you’re just scared to.”
“Why didn’t you become a psychologist?” Sarah asked. Alex laughed.
“He loves you,” Alex said softly. Sarah smiled. She liked the sound of that. Sarah thought for a minute and decided to be honest.
“Okay, real talk?” she asked. Alex nodded, anxiously. “He suggested we spend the weekend together as a family, to see how we do. Here’s the problem. It’s kinda our third date.” Alex laughed. Sarah smiled, fighting the blush. “Also, he told me he was okay if I went home each night, but I don’t want to. I’m not saying sex, but Alex, last night as we slept, we started out on opposite sides of the bed, and this morning, we were together, it was like I found the part of me that was missing. I don’t even like cuddling, and I can’t think of a morning I’ve ever woke up more relaxed, happier, and satisfied. And nothing happened!”
“How do the girls feel about it?” Sarah rolled her eyes.
“Molly’s calling Chuck daddy, Clara is calling me mama, and she walked for the first time today. Chuck even said if it didn’t work out, he’d be a part of Molly’s life, and I have no reason not to believe him.”
“Sarah, if Chuck says something like that, about a child that has lost her parents, you can take it to the bank,” Alex reassured her. “So you’re gonna stay?” Sarah grinned and slightly nodded.
“Yeah,” she said softly.
“And?” Sarah’s face beamed.
“I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “I really don’t know.” Carina and Casey walked in, looking ashamed of themselves.
“Walker,” Casey began.
“Save it, Casey,” Sarah said. “Next time, put a sock on the door.”
“Dad!” Alex yelled. “Carina!” Alex shook her head in disgust and left.
“How much business are we losing because of our IT problem?” Sarah asked, staring at the folder on her desk.
“We could be adding another 40% to 50% to our profits,” Carina said.
“That’s probably be conservative,” Casey added. Sarah nodded.
“You know Chuck could fix our problem,” Sarah said softly. “But he’s worried about Clara. The part of me the CIA trained says that if I could move in with him, protect his family, and we’d be great. But the part of me that’s real close to using a word I’ve never used before to express my feelings for a man, says that would put too much strain on a relationship.” Casey and Carina shared a look.
“Walker, you deserve to be happy,” Casey said. “Maybe you should tell Chuck the truth and you two have an adult conversation about this.”
“That would require him to tell me the truth,” Sarah said. Carina and Casey shared a look. “Oh, come on, we’re trained spies. He about wet himself over Piranha talk at dinner. If I had my lady feelings in check,” she said, winking at Casey. “I’d of caught it that night.”
“You know Walker, he probably is scared to death to tell you,” Carina said. Sarah nodded.
“But, when you’re in a relationship with someone you have to be honest. He gave Molly a speech about what relationships entail,” Sarah said sighing. “I hate to do this.”
“Bartowski hasn’t ever messed with Agent Walker before,” Casey said smiling. Sarah looked at Casey and grinned.
“Casey, it’s not Agent Walker Chuck has to worry about. It’s his girlfriend Sarah.”
“Chuck me,” Casey muttered. Sarah got up, pulled up security cameras and isolated the one on Skip, and one on the back parking lot near Skip’s desk. “You’re going to trap him.”
“I don’t want to,” she said. “I don’t want to be that person, so I’m not. Agent Walker will.”
“I’m confused, Sarah,” Carina said. Sarah nodded and got a grin on her face.
“I don’t care who he is, but I need to know, because if he is, we need to quit kicking stuff up hunting for Piranha. I’m trying to keep the schnook safe. I can’t do that if I’m the one looking for his alter ego.” Casey laughed and the two turned to leave. “Hey,” Sarah said never looking up from the computer. They both gulped and turned. “Be good to each other,” she said softly, smiling while getting everything together. Carina and Casey turned and left. Sarah sighed, picked up the phone and called Chuck.
“Hey,” Chuck said softly when he answered.
“Hey, yourself,” she replied.
“Everything okay?” he asked. Sarah sighed.
“No, she said. I’ve got a situation here, so can I get a raincheck on lunch?”
“No problem, anything I can do to help with your situation?”
“Are you implying you’re the situation?”
“Sarah Walker, I would never assume that I am, but if I was, I would be glad to be that, as long as it’s not something I’ve done, wrong-”
“Chuck.”
“Right, spiraling. Situation?”
“I know Casey scared the crap out of you the other night, but do you know Piranha?”
“Mrs. McNeally’s case that bad?”
“Skip thinks it’s impossible.” Chuck sighed.
“Look, I can-”
“Chuck, I can’t ask you to do that.”
“Sarah, you’re not asking, I’m offering.”
“I get it, but what happens next time, when it’s something else? You need to keep Clara safe.”
“You keep Molly safe.”
“Chuuuccckk.” She almost whined.
“I trust you,” he said.
“Do you?” she whispered. “I’m sorry, this is stressful; I need to talk to you about this later. Like tonight, or this weekend after the kids are in bed.”
“Uh, does that mean that, uh,” Chuck stammered.
“I think we should stay, as for the other…”
“Whatever you think is best,” Chuck replied.
“Chuck,” she said softly. “I already know what I think would be best. The question is are we ready for that?” Chuck sputtered and nearly choked. Sarah laughed softly. “I’ll see you later.” Chuck stared at the phone for a second. A minute later he picked up his cellphone and called Skip on his, which Sarah saw on the monitor.
“Skip, it’s Chuck, I need you to send me all the info you have on the retirement case. I’m doing Sarah a favor, so you can’t tell her, okay.”
“Chuck, she’ll kill me.”
“Skip, do you want me to send her your browser history?”
“I cleared that!!!”
“Skip…it’s me.”
“I’m sending it now, Chuck.”
“Skip, one more thing, I need you to take credit for this, do you understand?”
“Chuck, I can’t-”
“Browser. History.”
“Fine, Chuck. Seriously, thanks, I haven’t got a clue on this one.” Chuck hung up, and hit the button that called Morgan’s office.
“Morgan, I need to talk to you about something,” Chuck said.
“I’ll be right there,” and two seconds later he was. Chuck picked his words carefully, not wanting Morgan to go…well….Morgan.
“Buddy, we have a mission, an off book mission.” He looked Morgan straight in the eye. “Piranha needs to come back.”
“Chuck, that is a bad idea.”
“Someone has taken Mrs. McNeally’s retirement money.”
“5th grade Mrs. McNeally?” Chuck nodded.
“Her money, and several others, are trapped by a type of ransom ware, and there’s only one person who can get it back.”
“Chuck…do you need your thinking juice?”
“Thanks, Buddy.” Chuck began to work. He logged in on his secure computer and began to read code. He smiled when he found what he was looking for. Morgan brought the juice, and Chuck began in earnest. Morgan walked out and called Alex telling him that he had just gave Chuck the juice. Alex forwarded the message on to Casey.
“Do we tell Walker that we know he’s Piranha?” Casey asked Carina.
“And get murdered?” Carina answered. “No, we let them figure this out, but we should alert Sarah.” The two took a deep breath and went to her office. She was watching her computer, waiting to see something on the monitor. Carina knocked on the door frame.
“You two can take the day off and do whatever, I’ve got to take care of this,” she said never looking up. Carina had never seen her look like this before.
“We have an inside man,” Carina said. Sarah looked up, smirking.
“Morgan.” Casey grunted.
“Chuck is currently partaking in Chardonnay. Morgan thinks he’s trying to help Mrs. McNeally.” Sarah opened the file to double check something, held up a finger to her lips, and dialed Chuck.
“Hey,” Chuck said, sounding very surprised.
“I’m sorry about earlier. I was wondering if you’d like to drive over here and let me make it up to you. I have about fifteen minutes between meetings.”
“Uh, Sarah, I would love to, but, man I hate myself right now. Look I’m really sorry but after you called, I decided to celebrate the game meeting certification and I’ve had quite a bit of Chardonnay.”
“Quite a bit?”
“Yeah, uh, I may have cut a little too loose, it’s been a while since I’ve had anything to celebrate and now I feel terrible that you aren’t here or I’m not there, to celebrate with you.”
“It’s okay, Chuck.” She paused. “You okay, anything you want to talk about? You know that’s something boyfriends and girlfriends do, talk to each other.”
“I’m good,” Chuck said, his voice a little shaky. “I’ve got a few things to take care of, do you think you’ll be free around 3?”
“I can be,” she replied, wondering where this was going.
“I think I can get everything done I need to by then,” he replied.
“I thought you were celebrating?” she said.
“I am, but I’m working on this side project. You don’t know how sorry I am that I can’t be there.”
“Oh, I have a good idea.” Chuck made some noise between a groan and a sigh. Sarah laughed, said goodbye, and hung up. She began to get some work done, and was surprised when her phone rang five minutes later. She was even more surprised by who it was.
“Morgan?” Sarah said as she answered. ‘Is he okay?”
“No,” Morgan said. “His favorite teacher got her retirement taken away. Everyone is telling him to leave it alone, but he can do something about it, and he is. Sarah, you can’t get mad at him for doing the right thing. I get it, he should have told you about Piranha, but he’s not been him in years, which I think is part of his problem. He has so much confidence when he’s doing stuff like that, but as Chuck Bartowski, he’s been the guy life has taken a dump on.”
“Morgan, who said I’m mad at him for helping her?”
“Sarah, even Awesome and Ellie didn’t know about Piranha.”
“Morgan, he says I’m his girlfriend, and he trusts me, there must be consequences.”
“Tell me you’re not breaking up with him,” Morgan said barely over a whisper.
“Break up with him? Seriously? You think I’m going to break up with him? I lo-like him. A lot.”
“Sarah, he loves you too.” And with that, Morgan hung up. Sarah sat there and stared at her phone, a slow smile crossed her face. This was going insanely fast and they both knew it, but when you know…you know.
Since talking to Sarah earlier Chuck had thrown himself into his work. It had been a while, and he was a little rusty, but soon, he was making headway.
“Got you!” he yelled about 2:00. Morgan came rushing in, and saw Chuck smiling. He looked up, smiled, and hit a button. The ransom ware was gone. He put a note on the website that said Burton Industries thanks you for your patronage. Chuck pulled a flash drive out of the computer and looked at his friend. “Can you drive me somewhere real quick?” Morgan held up his keys, and the two took a quick trip to the backside of Burton Industries. Inside, Sarah saw a car pull up in the parking lot. Chuck called Skip, and a few seconds later, Skip came out the back door and took the flash drive Chuck gave him.
“You need to tell Sarah, you’ve created a solution for that ransom ware virus. This should make the company some money.”
“Chuck, I can’t do that.”
“Skip, if you don’t you could be out of a job.”
“Then I could just work for you and Morgan.” Chuck sighed. The answer was obvious, he and Skip switching jobs would fix so much, but Clara….
“Skip, please.” Skip nodded, took the drive and went back inside. Sarah watched it all and was wondering if she should call Chuck when her office phone rang. It was the company that had Mrs. McNeally’s retirement fund. They talked for a bit, and Sarah checked the company’s bank account. Her eyebrows raised when she saw how much money she had just made for doing nothing. Sarah’s eyebrows went even higher when the company offered to put Burton Industries on retainer. She said they didn’t have that service available yet as they were just starting in the cyber industry but hoped to soon. She was told to call back as soon as they did, and her company’s name would be given out to others to help if she didn’t mind. Sarah hung up, not sure what to do.
“What did he do?” Carina asked, leaning against the door frame. Sarah swung the monitor her direction. Carina did a double take.
“Best I can tell, about 3 hours of work,” Sarah said. “Plus they want to put us on retainer.”
“Sarah,” Carina began.
“I know, I know,” Sarah replied. There was a knock on the door, and the saw Skip.
“I have a program that will fight and stop any similar ransom wares,” he said. Carina and Sarah shared a look.
“You mind showing us how it works, Skip?” Carina asked. Skip started to sweat. Carina took the flash drive out of his hand.
“Good-bye, Skip,” Sarah said. Skip fled. Sarah leaned back in her chair and grinned. “Chuck Bartowski, what am I going to do with you?”
“I’ve got a pretty good idea,” Carina said, and left. Sarah threw a pencil that hit the door right where she had been standing. “Getting sloppy!” she yelled from down the hall. Sarah looked at the time, got up and walked out of her office.
In Chuck’s office, the lights were out, and Chuck was just sitting there, listening to Feeling Good, on repeat. Morgan started to come in and say something, but saw the mood was different. Chuck continued to sit there until he saw a shadow standing in the doorway.
“I’m fine, Morgan, just thinking about how many different ways she’s going to hurt me,” Chuck said, never looking up.
“How much have you had to drink, if you mistake me for Morgan?” Sarah asked.
“Not enough,” Chuck replied. Sarah started to talk but Chuck held up his hand. “I need to say this. This is who I am, Sarah. At least it used to be, a long time ago. It wasn’t for a while, but I met this little girl at preschool three months ago, and my life changed. I started to think maybe I could be me again. Then I meet her mother, the smartest, sweetest, funniest, intimidating, and with an inner beauty that can blind you. Plus she’s gorgeous,” Sarah chuckled. “Since I’ve met you, I have started to feel like me again. When I’m with you, I get to be me, and I’ve told you most of me, but not one little part. I said I trust you this morning, but if I do, then why haven’t I told you the truth. The fact is I do trust you, but I’m scared. Life has been so good the past few days. I’m afraid. Afraid when I tell you the truth you’re going to leave. I’ve had a whole lot of people leave, but to lose the love of my life….I think that will finish me. I’m not telling you that to guilt you, or to give you an excuse as to why I didn’t do what I should have, I just wanted you to know why, because you deserve that.” Sarah nodded, and turned on the lights. She walked up to Chuck’s desk and looked him right in the eyes.
“So tell me,” she said softly. Chuck nodded, took a deep breath, and said the words he always swore he’d never tell anyone.
“I’m Piranha.” Sarah just looked at him. Chuck was confused and then his face fell. “And, you’ve known all along.”
“No, I figured it out this morning,” she said, just like she was discussing the weather. Chuck leaned down and bounced his head against the desk. “Careful, you wouldn’t want to hurt anything. Those desks can be costly to replace.” Chuck looked at her, his eyes wide. She shrugged. “I’d tell you it would hurt your brain, but obviously it’s already damaged.” Chuck just stared. “I’ve. Killed. People. I’ve started revolutions with a fork. I’ve done things that wake me up at night and have night sweats, and you don’t blink an eye, or you haven’t thought of them, which it could be the latter because you’re obviously brain dead if you think that you being Piranha makes me mad.”
“I have thought about it, and no it doesn’t matter,” he said softly. Sarah slapped her hand on the desk making him jump.
“I get why you didn’t tell me at first, and the second or third time, but I gave you EVERY opportunity today to do so. EVERY. Chuck, we have something going on here that I want very, very, very much, but if you lie to me or keep secrets…”
“No more secrets, no more lies,” he said, and then stopped. “I have one more, but it’s something special no one knows about, and it’s not bad and I’ll share it as soon as I can.”
“Chuck that’s fine, but if you ever, EVER, lie or keep something like that from me again, you will not like what happens. Are we clear?” Chuck nodded. Sarah straightened up. “Now, you had a conversation yesterday with Molly about how relationships change when terms are used and there are consequences. There will be consequences for your actions, and trust me, you’ll know EXACTLY when. Don’t worry about it until it happens, are we clear?” Chuck nodded. She leaned back down smiling.
“Please remember in the future that the ‘love of your life’ is here for you. That’s what people in relationships do.”
“Did I say love of my life?” Chuck asked. Sarah nodded, with a look on her face that dared him to take it back. “Well, I won’t blame the Chardonnay.” Sarah smiled.
“You are making my life difficult in a very good way. I’m finding myself having trouble staying away from you, and not talking to you. So, if you’re done for the day, I’ve made a ton of money,” Chuck smiled and Sarah smirked at him. “And, I need to talk to someone about potential recruitment and what all would be required for him to join my company.”
“Sounds like someone’s in high demand. He might have a lot of stipulations.” Sarah smiled and leaned even closer. Chuck leaned forward as well until their lips were inches apart.
“He has no idea what I’m willing to offer,” she said softly. Chuck forgot how to breathe. “When your brain reboots, let’s out of here. I guess my car can stay in your parking lot this weekend.” Chuck still couldn’t breathe, and Sarah couldn’t let her boyfriend pass out, so she leaned in and kissed him. In a second his mind figured out what to do again. As she pulled away, she couldn’t help herself. “I have an amazing incentive and benefits plan.”
“Hey-oh!”
A/N: For the record, I had a fifth grade teacher named Mrs. McNeally. I would have attempted to hack anything to save her retirement, not that I can hack….
Oh, he’s getting going to pay the consequences, have no fear…