Chapter 7
A/N: I have all these stories and head cannons, and sometimes my thoughts don’t make it to paper as wilf21’s review made me realize. So please, if you have a question, please pm, review, whatever, and I’ll try and show you where I talked about it, or in this case, it was in my head and I never really said why I was doing what I was doing. Oh, one other thing, remember this is 2004, no facebook, myspace, or twitter. It takes a minute for the public to find out about things. We still used magazines and newspapers back then…and flip phones…(there was a Sony Ericsson CAR-100 flip phone, I kid you not. Google 2004 a trip down mobile memory lane… I had the Motorola RAZR V3)
I was worried some of you might be a skoosh irritated with me the way that last chapter ended, but everyone seemed to like it. I had my reasons, but you can’t go that far, and then pull back now can you? Hence the name of this chapter. Chenny fans you wanted it, you got. Ch 7, All-In
Disclaimer: I don’t own Chuck, I don’t own Chenny, but I’m really glad to get to write this chapter.
Jenny was looking in the mirror at the outfit she had on. She didn’t know why she was so nervous, it was the four of them going out. Emma had suggested it, and Casey agreed which was curious in itself, but it was four people going out and having a good time. So why was is so important she get this just right? Oh, she knew why, she knew exactly why, her Chuck was why. She thought about this morning and all it had brought with it.
}o{
That morning
She had woken up and wondered what had died in her mouth, that’s when she remembered what had happened yesterday. Her head hurt and she stumbled to the bathroom for many reasons, but the main two, to find out where the ice pick had been placed in her head, and to brush her teeth, possibly multiple of times. After she had done all of her business, she left the bathroom and walked back to the bed, she sat on it, and looked at him.
“I don’t want to go to Las Vegas either, Chuck,” she said softly. “I finally feel like I’m home.”
“Then don’t,” came his sleepy reply. She jerked her head up, not realizing he was awake. He smacked his lips, and opened his eyes, and the though of how adorable he was came rushing through her again. Her head was pounding, but seeing him look at her, was driving that pain away. How she wished she could tell him how special she felt when he looked at her like that. “I’m not going to ask you to leave, and just ignore Casey. He tries to throw me out of my own place once a week.”
“It’s not fair to you,” she said.
“What’s not fair?”
“You said you have trouble sleeping knowing I’m right down the hall,” she replied.
“I would have even more trouble sleeping if you were a state away,” he said, grinning at her. She shook her head. The phone rang, and Chuck reached over to answer it. “Hello. This is he. He left how many messages? How many people did he call moron? I see. Is he on the line? Yes, patch him through. Casey. Yes, I’m here, and she’s here to. We just played poker late, that’s all. I don’t even know what that means, Casey, though it does sound delicious. Oh. OH. No, Casey, you did a fine job of explaining the bird and the bees to me when I was younger.” He placed his hand over mouth piece and shook his head at Jenny. “No, he didn’t,” he mouthed. Jenny stifled a laugh. He took his hand off the mouthpiece. “Well, if you’d quit yammering like a gossip, we’d get ready and leave. Hello? Hello?” Chuck looked at the phone and hung up. “He hung up on me.” “I can’t imagine why,” Jenny said, getting off the bed, and walking over to him. She kissed him lightly on the cheek. “You being so charming and all.”
“There’s medicine in that drawer for your headache,” Chuck said. She opened the drawer, turned, and kissed his cheek again.
“I swear if you ever turned up your charm all the way, women would have no chance,” she said. Chuck laughed.
“Yeah, right. Thanks for being nice,” he said, beginning to get out of bed. He stopped as he felt a hand on his chest. He looked up seeing her eyes that were flashing blue.
“No. Chance,” she said, and then she bent down and kissed him. Chuck had been hoping to kiss Jenny for a long time. He had ideas in his head of what it would be like. In his mind, there was a 16 bit computerized version of himself, or little Chuck. Little Chuck took those ideas, wadded them up and threw them away. This was an epic event! He swore he heard a choir singing, lights flashing, and people applauding. She pulled away, patted his chest and went back to the bathroom. She paused at the door and looked back. “No chance,” she said softly. Chuck could only sit there and nod dumbly.
}o{
They were headed toward Chuck’s house after having checked out of the hotel. They had both been fairly quiet since the kiss. Chuck didn’t want to talk too much due to Jenny’s headache, and Jenny…well, she seemed to be deep in thought.
“What did Casey mean on the phone?” she asked. Chuck looked at her. “You know before you told me he didn’t explain the birds and the bees very well.” Chuck looked ahead, but his ears seemed to be getting red. “No lies, no secrets,” she said. He turned to her, a grin on his face. “It can’t be that bad.”
“He asked me if I was mixing my chocolate with your peanut butter, or something like that,” Chuck said. Jenny nodded.
“If he had waited twenty minutes to call the answer might have been different,” she said softly. It took all of Chuck’s concentration to keep the car on the road. “No secrets, no lies.” Chuck’s ears were fire engine red. “I know what our problem is.”
“You do?” he squeaked.
“Yep,” she said, popping the “p”. “I mean besides neither of us really knowing how to do the relationship thing, you being adorably awkward, and me not knowing how to really verbalize things.” Chuck sat there scared to say a word, fearing he would ruin the moment. “Our parents are in that house.” Chuck laughed out loud.
“Okay, hold on, I mean calling Casey a parent is a bit bold,” Chuck began. Jenny looked at him with an arched eyebrow. “If he was your foster parent it would be one thing for me to be worried about him…Oh my God, you’re scared of Casey!”
“Not scared, but he can be…gruff,” Jenny said, looking away. “Besides, your terrified of my mom.”
“Wait a second, that’s not even a little fair,” he replied. “I don’t know her, and she and her daughter are living under my roof and I don’t want to give off the kind of vibes that might make it harder one day if I was her son-in-law, plus you two have just gotten-”
“WHOA! WHOA! WHOA! WHOA! WHOA! WHOA! WHOA! WHOA!” Jenny said. “Her WHAT?!?” Chuck looked at her, realizing he had let his mouth run on too long. He was going to try and walk it back.
“Who’s what?” he asked. Her eyes flashed, and not the way he liked.
“Bartwoski, I swear to God if you don’t tell me what you said right this second-”
“IsaidIdidn’twanttoscrewthingsupifIwastobeherson-in-lawoneday,” he spit out as quickly as possible. Jenny looked at him, then turned and looked at the road, then back to him, then back to the road, and then back to him again.
“I see,” she said. She was quiet for a minute and then turned and looked forward to the road. “This whole no secrets, no lies thing is a bit more than I thought I was getting in to,” she said quietly.
“I’m sorry, Jenny,” Chuck said. “I won’t hold you to it.” Jenny turned to him with a smirk.
“Bartowski, I agreed, so I’m all-in, I’ve just got some interesting information that I need to process, that’s all.”
“You’re not pissed, or upset?” he asked, stunned.
“The greatest guy in the world wants my mom to be his mother-in-law, now all I have to do is find out if he thought I had any sisters…or brothers,” Jenny replied, grinning. Chuck laughed and laughed. He reached over and took her hand.
“I thought you were an only child.”
“Good answer, Bartowski. Good answer.”
}o{
A few hours later found Chuck in his office working, and Jenny and her mom on the porch enjoying the day. Casey came outside and surveyed the scene. He grunted and shook his head.
“You look like hell, Burton,” Casey said.
“You are an absolute ray of sunshine, Casey,” Jenny said. Casey stared at her and grinned.
“Bartowksi’s rubbing off on you, I see,” he said with a smirk. There was a double entendre there.
“Not yet,” she replied. Casey nearly choked on his coffee. Emma covered her mouth trying to hold in the laugh. He looked at Jenny, and nodded.
“Seems I was wrong about you,” Casey said. “I need to tell you about the Moron and his little friend. Maybe next time you won’t go on a bender if you know all the facts.” Emma looked at Jenny, grinning.
“I wasn’t….on a bender,” she said, knowing this fight was useless.
“Right,” Casey said, with a growing smirk. “Tell me something, Burton. Does Bartowski have as much money as a video game guy should?” Jenny knew exactly what he meant, she also knew by admitting what she knew that Casey would know she had checked Chuck out. She had, not for running a con, as she hoped Casey now knew, but because she was trying to find out about him, since he wouldn’t stay out of her mind those long months in Las Vegas when he wasn’t around.
“Too much,” she said, meeting his gaze. “Way too much.” Casey nodded.
“He feels stuck,” Casey said looking straight ahead, sipping coffee. “Before he went to Stanford, I would talk all about the NSA, and he used to laugh. He told me he could hack their systems in minutes. He kept on and on, and I finally decided to put him in his place. I called some people, told them about my…the kid’s boasts and was ready for some laughs and us to set him up. What I got surprised me. I was told that he was probably right. Long story short, the Kid created their firewall, and is getting paid by the government, very well, I might add. He used that money to start his and Morgan’s video game company, but his heart, it’s not in it. The contract ends on his computer protections soon, and he wants to make it available to the public for next to nothing, or even free. He wants to do so many other things than be bogged down by a video game company. He enjoys it, he just wants challenges and to help people.”
“He’s a good guy, he learned from those that care about him,” she said, looking Casey directly in the eye. She had caught his near slip. “I won’t hurt him, Casey, I promise.”
“You damn well better not,” Casey said.
“If we get married, can I call you dad?” she asked. Casey growled, shook his head, and stormed off.
“Why must you upset him so?” Emma asked, laughing.
“Because he wants to act all gruff, and he loves Chuck so much it’s not even funny,” Jenny said. Emma patted her leg.
“I don’t think he’s the only one,” she said, watching her daughter turn red. They talked for a while, and Jenny told her mom everything. She laughed about their realization of how awkward things were with their parents in the house. That’s when Emma suggested they all go out to dinner together. Which led Jenny to her current predicament of what to wear. She went with a purple dress and nervously walked down the hall to the living room. They were taking her Porsche tonight, she need to drive and release the nervous energy. Chuck came out of his room buttoning the last of his dark blue shirt having never looked up.
“Jenny are you…” he trailed off, seeing her. She grinned, knowing from the look on his face he was gobsmacked. She put a mental checkmark down to wear this more often.
“Am I what, Chuck?” she asked.
“Are you for real,” he mumbled out, and then shook his head seeing the confused look on his face. “I mean you are smart, so smart, like people don’t get how smart you are, and the personality you have, the wit, the jokes, oh man the jokes, the inner beauty you have, like trying to help your dad when he doesn’t deserve it, and all the little things you do to take care of people, I mean that makes you one of the most beautiful, sexiest women in the world, but then…then, you are just so incredible…see, that smile, the one with your eyes, those eyes that look into someone’s soul…I’m serious, are you for real or has my mind finally snapped and you are a figment of my imagination.” Jenny crossed the space between them, grabbed his shirt with one hand, the back of his head with the other, and kissed him until they ran out of oxygen. When she pulled away she gave him a smirk.
“Any more questions?”
“Nope, I think my brain melted,” he said. She patted him on the chest and smoothed his shirt.
“We should go,” she said. “They said they’d meet us there.” She took his hand and led him to her car.
}o{
“Emma can’t make it?” Chuck asked, grinning. Jenny was shaking her head with her own grin looking at her phone.
“Nope, I assume something’s come up with Casey as well?” Jenny asked. Chuck nodded having snapped his phone shut. “So in the vein of no secrets, no lies, this was my mom’s idea of letting us get to know the parents better.”
“Then why bail?” Chuck said. “I mean they got us alone, I get it, but we’ve been alone before.” Jenny studied him, and grinned. She took a drink of her water (there was no way she was drinking alcohol tonight, she couldn’t take another headache, and she didn’t want it to be an excuse…just in case).
“Maybe they’re saying we have their permission,” she said with a smirk. Chuck burst out laughing. “What?”
“We’ve entered the land of the absurd, that’s what,” Chuck said. “There’s pictures out there of us as a couple, we’ve danced all around this,” he said, motioning between us. “And now our ‘parents’, are trying to set us up.” Jenny grinned.
“You know, I’ve been thinking about us like that,” Jenny began.
“Really?” Chuck asked. Jenny gave him a look, he held up his hands and look properly chastised.
“Someone did a real number on you, didn’t they?” Chuck nodded. “Broke up with you, slept with someone?”
“Slept with my roommate at college,” Chuck said, Jenny winced.
“That’s low,” she replied. “Tell me something, Chuck, is that why Morgan treated me the way he did?” He nodded. “Good.” He looked at her, confused. “You need to have a friend that backs you no matter what.”
“Well, that, and he thinks your Yoko Ono,” Chuck said. Jenny laughed.
“I can handle it,” Jenny said. Chuck looked at her, and she reached over and took his hand. “You’ve helped my family so much, you’ve helped me, and all you want is for me to be happy.”
“Are you happy yet?” Chuck asked, grinning.
“Two things would make me happy,” Jenny said.
“Well, tell me and I’ll see what I can do,” Chuck said.
“First, I need to find my father, and I know you’re working on it, so that makes me very happy, and I have an idea, but it kind of ties into number two but I’m afraid you’ll take it the wrong way,” Jenny said.
“Okay, take a breath, that was close to a spiral, and that’s kinda my thing,” Chuck said.
“Oh,” Jenny said. “Do I need to compensate you for it?” she asked, raising an eyebrow and grinning. Chuck gulped. “Do I need to apologize for using it?” Chuck shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
“You know what, I think I’m going to have you added on to the paperwork to use it anytime you want.”
“Chuck, you are so giving,” she said, seriously.
“That’s me, Chuck Bartowski, the guy who gives until it hurts.” Jenny nodded, taking his other hand.
“That’s the other thing I want Chuck,” she said. “I want to make you stop hurting. I want to make you happy. I don’t know terms and labels, but I want to be with you. I want a life with you, and I don’t care if you run a video game company or play on the poker tour or start a non-profit to help whoever, I just want to be a part of your world.”
“You are a part of my world,” Chuck said.
“Chuck, I’m greedy, I want to be your world,” Jenny said as honestly as she knew how. Chuck sat back, a little stunned. “I don’t know how to do the girlfriend thing, the spouse thing, because I never saw all of that, all I know is, when you’re not around I want you around. I want you around so much it hurts, and I get what I came from, but you say you don’t care, so I think it’s time you put up or shut up. What’s it gonna be, Bartowski, you got the guts to try this thing?”
“Did you just propose to me?” Chuck asked. Jenny burst out laughing. She wadded up a napkin and threw it at him.
“I spent hours talking myself into doing this, calm myself so I can get out the words, pour my heart out, and you’ve got jokes?” she asked, but the smile on her face told him she wasn’t mad.
“Jenny, that’s part of the package,” he said, his smile lighting up his whole face, including his eyes that were twinkling.
“Enough with the subtle hints, Buster, in or out?”
“All-in,” he said, squeezing her hand. Jenny nodded, a happy smirk on her face.
“About time,” she muttered.
“Aw, hell, Burton,” Chuck said, doing his best Casey impersonation. “You know that nerd was putty in your hands.” Jenny laughed so hard she thought they’d get thrown out of the restaurant. “Okay, now that we’ve taken care of that serious moment, what idea did you have that might help us find Jack?”
“Welllll,” she began. “I don’t feel this way, I need to put this out there first,” she said. Chuck nodded. “These pictures of us…he might see them, and check out who you are…” Chuck grinned.
“So you’re saying, he thinks his daughter would only be with a guy like me, a millionaire, because she’s conning him?” he said, his eyes far away, grinning, realizing the easiest way to find Jack was to just be themselves in public…that’s why he missed it…the look.
“Charles Irving Bartowski,” she practically growled. She swore an “epp” came from his direction but she could care less at that moment. “The reason I am with you, is because you are the kindest, most generous, loving, compassionate, amazing man I know, and if you don’t stop down grading yourself, I’m going to have no problem kicking the guy I’m falling in love with ass.” Chuck stared at her, a little frightened, but a slow smile growing on his face.
“What did you just say?” he asked. Jenny rewound the words in her head and she began to blush. Part of her wanted to run, but a part, the big part, was determined to sit right there and deal with this.
“I believe I said I’m going to have no problem kicking the guy I’m falling in love with ass.”
“Well, that’s problematic,” he said. Her eyes narrowed, and she saw him fighting a grin.
“What is,” she nearly growled again. The smile had overtaken his face.
“I’m pretty sure that sentence is grammatically incorrect.” She reached over, took his napkin, wadded it up, and threw it right in his face. He never moved, and just kept smiling. “I believe it is more correct to say I have no problem kicking the ass of the guy I’m falling in love with.”
“I hate you,” she said, laughing.
“I hate you, too,” he replied.
}o{
He had offered to take her dancing, but she said she really didn’t want to be around a crowd of people, so he told her he had an idea. He drove her to the beach. She left her shoes in the car and they walked hand in hand until they found the perfect spot. He sat up a blanket and they sat on it, her in front of him, his arms wrapped around her. How long they stayed neither knew. Neither one had said a word since arriving, they just held each other, until finally Jenny broke the silence.
“Let’s go home.”
She drove them home, and they entered the house. It was silent, Chuck wasn’t sure where Emma or Casey was and frankly he wasn’t about to go look. In the middle of the living room she kissed him, smiled and headed down the bedroom hallway. He heard a door close softly, no idea what bedroom she went into. It didn’t matter. He and Jenny they were together and that’s all that mattered. The rest of it…they’d figure it out. He grinned, and started toward his room. He paused just in front of his door, and slowly opened it. He stood there a minute.
“You sure?” he asked.
“Shut up, come in, close the door, and kiss me,” she said. He did.
A/N: (Sits back, cracks knuckles) I made it seven chapters. That’s got to be some sort of record. Okay kids, crazy work this week, Grace with 9 million things to do, so I don’t know when I’ll get the next one out, and next week is just as bad. Plus I need to update Truffaut soon, or Grace will yell…a lot… Take care. See you soon.
DC