It's a Wonderful Cover Life (Chuck Fan Fiction)

Chapter 16

73. Have You Met the Awesomes?

The doorbell rang long before Sarah was prepared to answer it. With a hand on the knob she paused and took a deep breath, raking her fingers through her hair. The last time she'd been this nervous about meeting someone was nearly a week ago when she'd stood on the Bartowski's doorstep. That hadn't turned out so bad, she told herself. This would be a piece of cake. Or so she hoped.

Before the bell could ring again Sarah swept open the door.

The couple on the threshold looked exactly like she'd imagined them from Chuck's accounts – Devon was tall and muscular, though not in a bulky way, and seemed rather laid back in his dark jeans and bondi blue sweater. Ellie, looking a bit more formal in her slacks and burgundy turtleneck, was obviously related to Chuck. Sarah recognized the shared facial features at once, but unlike with Chuck, the brunette's face was unreadable. Devon, on the other hand, gave Sarah a toothpaste commercial grin which put her somewhat at ease.

"Ellie, Devon, hi."

She stepped aside to let them in and the couple accepted the silent invitation.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Sarah," Ellie said.

Sarah wanted to return the sentiment, but before she could she found herself enveloped in a bear hug, holding her breath as she waited for the sound of bones snapping.

"We've missed you," Devon said, and when he released her, Sarah took an instinctive step back, resisting the urge to check if she was still in one piece.

"Devon, what are you doing?" Ellie asked.

"We're pretending to be family," he said in a stage whisper as his eyes searched the room for anyone who might have been watching, before meeting his fiancé's. "That's how I greet family."

Though Sarah should've been concerned about his lack of acting ability given that Christmas was approaching fast, she couldn't help but be amused.

"The coast is clear, actually," she replied. "But it's game on if you spot a fifty-year-old redhead who's about this tall."

She indicated the height with a sideways palm at chest level, but quickly dropped her hand when she realized that the gesture had unintentionally drawn Devon's gaze to her breasts. He wasn't leering, but she didn't want Ellie to get the wrong idea.

"We should probably go check on Chuck," Sarah said before the silence became awkward.

Devon, oblivious to what had just happened, motioned in the directions of the stairs. "Lead the way."

74. Ce Moment-Français Gênant

"Hey, sis," Chuck said from his prone position on the bed. "Thanks for making the trip."

"Anything for my little brother," Ellie replied, giving Chuck an awkward hug.

"Actually we're happy you called," Devon said. "We've been curious about what exactly was going on here."

"Oh, it's just your average pretend-to-be-married-in-order-to-sell-off-an-unde r-performing-electronics-store-manouvre," Chuck replied. "We call it The Lichtenstein. Maggie has a little trouble pronouncing it though."

Chuck winked at Sarah and for a second she almost forgot about the other people in the room.

"That's probably because Dora the Explorer is teaching her Spanish instead of German," Ellie said. "And bad Spanish at that."

"How can you tell?" Chuck asked. "You don't speak Spanish."

"I still think her second language should be Japanese," Devon interjected.