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

Chapter 9

36. Dressed For Success

"Hey, Sarah," Chuck said from the bathroom door. "Please help?" He looked up from fumbling with his cufflink and his hands froze. "I'm overdressed, aren't I?"

"A little," she replied with a smile. He did look quite handsome in the dark suit and she was amazed at how easily he transformed from sweet and nerdy to suave and confident, at least on the outside.

"Not saying that you don't look nice," he clarified, seemingly misinterpreting her silence. "You do…always look nice, I mean. Better than nice even."

"Thank you, Chuck," Sarah replied to the rather awkward, but sincere, compliment. Yip, she thought, definitely just on the outside. "Last night was a business dinner, kind of," she explained, "but now we just get to be ourselves."

"So I should change, huh?" he asked needlessly and headed for the dressing room where he and Gertrude had moved his stuff to earlier. At first he'd balked at the suggestion, but Sarah had pointed out that the stakes had been raised and that it would be good for the cover.

She slipped her earring into place and followed Chuck.

He was standing in front of his row of clothes, staring, as if waiting for the right outfit to just jump out at him. For the first time it dawned on Sarah that she was sharing her closet. She'd never done that before. The odd item Bryce had left behind sometimes found its way into a forgotten corner, but she hadn't given him as much as a drawer. Had her and Chuck's relationship been remotely real, this would be a big step. But it wasn't, she reminded herself as she reached for a pair of designer jeans, courtesy of Signor Anthony, and a red turtleneck. Then she changed her mind and exchanged it for a black button down.

"It's been a while since someone picked out my clothes," Chuck quipped as he took the items from her.

"It's been a while since I've picked out clothes for someone," Sarah replied, and in an effort to forget how she had done that for her dad after her mother had abandoned them, she added "You don't have to wear that if you don't want to." Maybe she'd been a bit presumptuous.

"No, it's fine," Chuck assured her, "you have great taste. Plus you're paying me to look the part." He immediately held up his free hand in a peace offering. "I'm sorry, that didn't come out right."

Sarah shrugged a shoulder, pretending that it was no big deal. It shouldn't have been. Ignoring the unfamiliar twist in her chest, she bent down to retrieve his converses. Chuck accepted them with a quirked eyebrow.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"It's you," she replied before leaving him to get dressed.

"Sarah," he called her back. She turned, looking at him expectantly. "Can I ask you a favor?"

"Of course."

"I'm going to run slightly late, having to change again, so do you mind helping Maggie get dressed?"

Sarah shook her head feeling a spurt of trepidation. "Chuck, I'm not sure how – "

"It's easy, like playing dress-up with a really squirmy doll." He shot her a reassuring smile. "You have played dress-up before, right?"

She smirked. "Apparently so have you."

Chuck gave her a pained look. "I have a sister. She's older, I had no choice."

37. Not So Fast, Dora

Sarah paused in front of Maggie's door and took a calming breath. "It's easy," she repeated Chuck's words before pushing it open. The little girl was lying on her stomach, her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth as she concentrated on turning an elephant orange. As well as the grass, the trees and the clouds, Sarah noticed, as Maggie scribbled across the page.