Trust
"Katelyn Marie Bartowski!" Chuck yelled up the staircase in their three-story house. "If you don't get up right now, I will come up there and wake you up personally." He clutched the railing in his left hand, while his right hand rested on the wall.
"Jeesh, I'm coming!" She yelled from her room. She came bouncing out of her room cheerfully, and smiled at her dad as she came down the stairs.
"It's about time." He looked at his watch. "You're going to be late." He looked back up at his daughter. He couldn't believe how fast she had grown up. Her face was becoming more defined, and he had finally let her start wearing make-up the past year. Her brown hair was pulled back into a curled, bouncy ponytail, and she had reached 5"8' and she was only fourteen.
"How about I just play hooky today, and we can go do something fun?" Katelyn kept smiling at her father, while standing on the first step right in front of him.
"Nice try. You aren't missing school, and I am not missing work." He narrowed his eyes.
"Wow, you totally lost your cool factor." Katelyn laughed.
"Really? I didn't even know I was considered cool." He smiled at his daughter. "Hurry up and go get in the car, crazy." He moved, and allowed his daughter to pass and enter the garage through the kitchen. He followed her after grabbing the keys, his phone, and his coffee. After he dropped her off, he headed into the office. He had started up a tech company that had just gone global a few months ago. He was still getting used to being the head boss of a company. His best friend and brother-in-law, Morgan Grimes, was the co-owner. Morgan had married his sister Ellie five years ago today. That's why Chuck was all alone in the gigantic building, fighting off all annoying employees for the week. Morgan and Ellie had gone to Costa Rica for their anniversary. Chuck had been friends with Captain Mighty since they were in diapers, so of course he approved. Morgan was as tall as Chuck, but he was slightly more muscular. He had shaved his beard, which Ellie loved, but Chuck missed his old un-whipped best friend. But, there wasn't much he could do now.
"Good morning, Mr. Bartowski." The head of security for the building took Chuck's keys as he exited his vibrant red Ferrari California. Chuck laughed as he stepped out of his car, and Ken stepped in.
"Ken, man, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Chuck?"
"Many times sir." Ken drove into the parking garage. Chuck shook his head while laughing still, his coffee mug in one hand, and folders in the other.
"Morning Chuck!" Anthony, another security guard, opened the front door for his boss.
"Morning Anthony. Any luck with the tooth fairy problem?"
"Not at all, your advice helped a lot. Me and the Mrs. owe you big time."
"Nah, I give out my advice for free." Chuck winked at his friend, and entered the nearest elevator. He pushed the button for floor 35, and waited patiently while heading up. The elevator stopped on floor 20, letting Sienna Davis in.
"Morning Chuck." She smiled warmly at him and she stood to his direct left.
"Morning Sienna." He always had to look down at his personal assistant. He was about 6"3' and she was only 5"8'.
"Late night?" She pointed at his coffee. He never brought any to work.
"Yeah, just trying to finish up the numbers." He slightly lifted his folders.
"You know you have employees for that, right?" She asked as the elevator opened on the 35th floor. They stepped out.
"Yeah, but it wasn't getting done fast enough." They walked through a spacious hallway, and into his office, passing tons of cubicles on the way.
"Well, then fire them." Sienna suggested. Chuck peered behind her at the open door, glad that no one had heard her.
"I can't do that..." He trailed, setting his things down on his desk.
"I know, that's why you're so amazing Chuck." He heard a slight hint of flirting in her voice that he had never noticed before. He was so shocked by it, that when he turned around to ask her out, she had already left. He frowned at himself, and then shut his office door. Today was going to be long.
Waking up sucked. It was only 8:00am and she couldn't get back to sleep. Sarah Walker groaned. Last night had been her 33rd birthday party, and she had never been hung over until now. And she really didn't like the feeling. Her twenty-five year old sister, Molly, had invited a ton of people over to her spacious loft. Sarah turned over onto her back, and realized she was on her couch. She used both of her hands to rub her entire face awake, and then she fell off the couch. A body groaned beneath her.
"You are so fat." The voice mumbled.
"Molly?" Sarah groggily asked, trying her best to sit up with feeling nauseas and barfing all over the place.
"No, it's Santa Claus." Sarah felt a harsh push. "Get your fat butt off me!"
"Alright, alright." Sarah placed herself on the couch again. She rested her elbows on her knees and buried her face in her hands.
"Wow, some party huh?" Molly was fully awake and punched her sister playfully, while wiggling her eyebrows.
"Sure," Sarah looked up at her younger sister who was smiling vibrantly at her, "How are you so...energetic?" Sarah groaned.
"Oh please, you think that was my first party?" Molly looked condescendingly at her older sibling.
"No, and that's what I'm afraid of." Sarah whispered to herself. She got up from the couch, and followed her sister to the kitchen space.
"What do ya feel like this morning Sarah? Cap N' Crunch or Frosted Flakes?" Molly flashed two boxes of cereal in her face.
"How about a bowl of take-back-what-I-did-last-night?" She was starting to sound normal again, but she felt disgusting. Molly laughed loudly, and Sarah grabbed her own head in agony.
"Jeesh, how much did you have to drink last night?"
"Is it bad that I don't even remember?" Sarah asked sheepishly. Molly hugged her close.
"Oh boy, you sure did get the good genes of the family didn't you?"
"Chuck, you have a call on line three." Sienna stepped into the meeting. Chuck was going over his plans to work with a new Chinese company.
"Uh, can it wait?" He asked.
"It's about Katelyn." Sienna made a this-sounded-urgent face. Chuck turned to the executives around the huge oval table.
"Excuse me for just a moment." Chuck smiled and walked out of the room to his office. "How urgent?" He asked Sienna hurriedly as she led him into his office.
"It's the school nurse." She shut the door behind him. Chuck walked vastly to the phone on his desk and picked it up.
"This is Chuck."
"You just stay here okay?" Chuck looked to Katelyn who was now in her bed. She had come home with a fever of 101.1.
"Okay." Katelyn coughed.
"I'm gonna go to the store to get you some soup and crackers and sprite, okay?"
"Okay." She coughed again. Chuck wouldn't be gone long, but he hated leaving her for even a second like this. He jumped in his car and raced to the store.
"Did you take my earrings?" Sarah asked Molly, frantically looking around for them in her room.
"No, but I think some chick left with them on last night." She heard Molly reply. Sarah stopped looking and groaned.
"Great, is there anything else you'd like to screw up before I leave?" She asked as she walked out to the living room area.
"Wow, I'm feeling a lot of hatred here sis." Molly joked. She had her feet propped up on the coffee table that Sarah had put back, and was eating puffy cheetos while watching Friends.
"You should." Sarah narrowed her eyes, making Molly look over at her.
"Look, I'm the one cleaning up here when you leave. You should be thanking me."
"You're the one who made it like this in the first place!" Sarah threw her hands up in the air and then folded them across her chest. "What am I going to do with you?"
"I don't even know what I'm gonna do with myself, so let me know when you figure that one out." Molly said with an attitude.
"Whatever, just be outta here by 3:00. Got it?" Sarah looked over her shoulder, before exiting her home.
"Yeah! Got it!" Molly gave her an orange thumbs up. Sarah sighed and left, only to realize she didn't have her keys or purse. Which made her late to work. Her boss Craig hated it when she was late. Even though he never fired her, she still hated being late as well. Driving into the station was slow, as there was more traffic than usual. When she finally arrived, she had just enough time to be fancied up. The stylists put her in a grey skirt and pink long-sleeved top, with her hair down. She loved how her long blonde hair curled naturally, and so did the stylists. She had won five best-looking awards from the News Network. Being the afternoon anchor wasn't that bad, and her co-anchor Devon was an amazing man to work with.
"Late night?" Devon asked as she walked into the studio.
"Maybe." She smiled. "Oh, but then again, you were there weren't you?" She asked sarcastically. He laughed at her.
"You two are live in three." The cameraman told them. Sarah sat behind the desk, and read the reports for the day.
"Wow, a bear mauled a man and he lived." Devon was surprised.
"What?" Sarah leaned over to look. "Wow. That's impressive." She responded.
"Alright. We're live in three, two..."
"Good afternoon and welcome to Queen6 news." Sarah said officially. "I'm your anchor Sarah Walker here with my co-anchor Devon Woodcomb."
"Thanks for reminding me yet again, Sarah." They both laughed.
"We have the weather reports coming up first, so here's Jim Lane. Jim?" The camera was turned towards their other news friend, who was standing in front of a large green screen. Sarah knew that her job seemed boring to others, but she really liked it.