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Charlie was finishing his report on the latest case while Rex was snoozing on couch behind him. The team has just wrapped this long ass case who kept them on their toes for several weeks, so it was a relief when they finally cracked the case, thanks to Rex finding new evidence and Sarah and her team making a connection with an investigation his friend Donny Fitzpatrick in St-Pierre had going on. He was looking forward to getting some rest and the timing was perfect. The team had a dinner planned tonight with Sarah and her parents who were in town for the first time since she moved here.
Closing his laptop, he stretched and checked the time.
“Alright pal we’ll have to get moving soon if we don’t want to be late”
Rex looked at him and barked
“What?”
Rex just kept looking at him, judgement in his eyes. Charlie looked at himself, ok his shirt was slightly wrinkled, but it wasn’t that bad…. ok maybe he needed to make more of an effort for his first meeting with the Truongs, he knew that although her parents supported her decision to move to St-John to further her career they would have liked her to stay closer to home. He really wanted them to feel at ease knowing Sarah was with them and from what he heard Mama Truong was one tough nut to crack.
Going into his room he started rummaging through his drawers looking for a shirt.
“Should I take this one?” he asked Rex showing him a dark purple shirt.
“Or maybe this one?” showing him a darkish blue shirt
Rex barked, looks like he was approving of the blue shirt. He remembered Sarah telling him once that this shirt was making his eyes appear even bluer and it definitely sounded like a compliment…..it wouldn’t hurt making an effort to look nice.
“Cologne or not?”
Rex once again barked his approval
“Cologne it is then”
He took a minute to style his hair, grabbed his leather jacket and headed for the door, Rex following closely behind him.
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Rex parked the car in the restaurant parking lot and immediately spotted Sarah with her parents beside the door, Joe and Jesse weren’t there yet. Sarah was definitely favoring him mom in size but she had her dad’s smile and kind eyes. Opening the door for Rex to get out he started making his way toward them.
“Hey Sarah”
“Hey Charlie” she said smiling at him.
Rex looked hopefully at her, trying to get her attention.
“Hey Rex” she said smiling and crouching to give him some scratches behind his ears and a kiss on the head.
“Charlie, Rex, meet my parents. This is my mom Hanh and my dad Quang”
“Maam, sir, Chào. It’s nice to meet you” he said politely while shaking their hands.
Sarah and her parents looked mildly impressed he knew some greetings in Vietnamese.
“Not bad Charlie! Call us Quang and Hanh, it’s nice to finally meet you, we heard a lot of things about you” said Quang.
“All good things I hope” he said grinning
“Of course! But not as good as everything we heard about him” he said looking at Rex.
“It’s very nice to finally meet you Rex”
Rex got closer to Quang and gave him his paw, which Sarah’s dad shook looking amused.
Rex then trotted to Sarah’s mom and did the same thing. Sarah’s mom stared at Rex for a second before smiling and shaking his paw as well. Charlie was happy to see Rex’s charm worked with her mom as well.
“You know if Joe and Jesse are already inside?” He asked Sarah.
“They both had to cancel last minute, Jesse was feeling under the weather and Joe forgot he had something planned with Camilla”.
“That’s too bad you’re stuck with me and Rex then” Charlie said jokingly.
“As usual, I guess I’ll have to try to survive this awful ordeal” Sarah said grinning at Charlie while Sarah’s parents looked at them. Her dad mumbled something in Vietnamese to his wife which had her shaking her head in agreement.
Holding the door for Sarah and her parents to enter the restaurant Charlie watched as Sarah’s mom started talking to Sarah in Vietnamese while looking at him from the corner of her eyes. He had no clue what she said but Sarah started talking very fast and wait…was she blushing? He’ll have to ask her about it later. Whatever the two of them talked about had her dad chuckling.
As soon as they were seated and had ordered Hanh looked directly at Charlie and very seriously asked “So Charlie, tell me about all the time my daughter found herself in trouble while with you in the field”
Charlie squirmed under her gaze while opening and closing his mouth a couple of time, at loss for words. Quang started laughing while Sarah just shook her head and hid her face in her hands.
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Saying goodbye to the Truongs outside of the restaurant Charlie made his way back to his car. Thankfully after grilling him for a little while he managed to get on Hanh good side and hit off pretty well with Quang, Sarah definitely favored her dad personality wise and the two of them clicked instantly. He even had an open invite any time he would be in the Toronto area, and he wasn’t sure if she was joking but Hanh was pretty much ready to marry him off to someone in the family although she stayed very vague about who. He really had a good time with Saraah’s parents, despite being a little bit scared when he realized he would be alone with them, He remembered when he met Julia’s father and what a catastrophic evening it was. Of course, it was different because he and Sarah aren’t a couple, just two very close friends who spend a lot of time together, a friend he could admit was very attractive but a friend, nonetheless. Starting the car, he couldn’t help but think that he really needed to stay on Hanh good side because he could imagine her making someone disappear without leaving any trace, chuckling at this thought he excited the parking lot and headed home.
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Joe picks up their drinks at the bar and made is way back to Jesse at their table.
“You think they realized we kinda set them up for a meet the parents/date?” Jesse asked Joe, feeling a little bit guilty.
“You serious?” said joe, chuckling. “These two wouldn’t recognize a date even if it hit them in the face.”
They both started laughing and clicked glasses, hopefully that little scheme might finally kickstart something between their two favorite idiots.