Chuck and Sarah vs. the Ex, Chapter 1
Disclaimer: I don't own anything at all related to Chuck. No characters, no plots, no themes, no nothing. Enjoy!
Note: This is a sequel to Chuck vs. the Defense Contractor. Knowing what happened there would be helpful, but hopefully, not necessary for the reading of this story.
Home Theater Room; Buy More, Buy More Plaza, Los Angeles, 9:41pm on a weekday
Chuck zoned out as Sarah and Casey briefed General Beckman via videoconference on their latest mission. It was the first failure Team Chuck had experienced in the past month. Perhaps failure was too strong a label for that evening's mission. Non-success might be more appropriate. Since taking down Raymond Johnson and the Miller-Johnson Corporation, they had been batting a thousand. Nikki Johnson had taken up residence at an unknown east coast location and utilized her knowledge of her father's company to help the CIA and NSA pick through the Byzantine remains of Miller-Johnson. The public never learned of how the world's largest defense contractor nearly destroyed the American intelligence community. Numerous crimes were uncovered and previously unknown channels of influence to the highest levels of foreign and domestic governments were eliminated. Corrupt officials who could prove useful were put on the CIA payroll. American and allied officials who weren't useful were put on the retirement track. Foreign officials from unfriendly nations were terminally retired. The mercenary contractors that Miller-Johnson employed provided a wealth of new information about Fulcrum which led to massive progress against them. It was estimated that more than half of the subversive cabal had been taken down in the last month. Having two Intersects at their disposal, the CIA and NSA doubled the intelligence they could process and act on. Nikki was the consummate professional, doing all that was asked of her and more. She had quickly earned the respect of her superiors, and even a small amount of trust.
With no computerized Intersect on the horizon, the powers-that-be decided to invest in their two human Intersects. Both Chuck and Nikki received the latest intelligence data, which was originally intended for the Beta Intersect. The frequency was still to be determined, but periodic updates were now part of the plan. Their recent successes caused even General Beckman to appreciate the unique value of Chuck and Nikki.
Chuck's personal life was going well too. There was a new level of honesty and trust between him and Sarah since they bared their feelings to each other. His confidence had grown as had his Intersect skills. He was better able to make more complex connections between data points. Sarah was more purposeful in her craft having come to terms with knowing that she would protect Chuck to her end for both professional, and personal reasons. There was no more tiptoeing around between them. They happily accepted their roles of Intersect, guardian, and significant other.
They never showed their affection for each other in front of Casey in non-cover situations, but he was too astute not to notice all the little things. As long as the missions were accomplished, he subscribed to a don't ask don't tell policy. He actually welcomed their real relationship since both of them were happy and motivated, and that contributed to their recent win streak. He never would have thought those two would get together but maybe opposites did attract.
A smile unknowingly crept onto Chuck's face as the room grew silent. Sarah elbowed him gently.
"Well, Chuck?" Beckman asked.
Caught completely off-guard, he had no idea what they were talking about.
Casey suspected that Chuck's distraction had to do with the tall blonde standing next to him. Maybe their relationship wasn't always the best thing. It was late and he wanted to go home so he took pity on him.
"Chuck, the General asked you if you had any flashes at the warehouse. Did you recognize anything that we found?"
"Uhh, that's a negative. There wasn't much there and I didn't recognize what was."
"Very well. We've had tremendous success against Fulcrum recently so one misfire is acceptable. Review your intelligence to see where we went wrong and let's move on. Keep up the good work." Beckman signed off.
"Wow, I've never seen her so cheerful after a failed, I mean non-successful mission." Chuck observed.
"Me neither. Let's not test her with another failed mission." Casey said.
Sarah chimed in. "This was a weird one. All the intelligence pointed to a Fulcrum operation being run out of that warehouse. It turns out to be a nearly empty building with no sign of them ever having been there. Didn't the original flash originate from Nikki?"
"I verified her flash with the same data. That's as solid as we can get." Chuck wondered how long Sarah would maintain her animosity toward Nikki.
"It's possible that the original intelligence was faulty. We're working on the bleeding edge here. At the pace we're rolling Fulcrum up, we haven't had much time to verify sources." Casey said.
A thought passed through Chuck's mind. Maybe Fulcrum planted the information to ambush them. Well, not ambush them since there was nobody waiting for them when they stormed the building with twenty agents. Why else would Fulcrum set them up?
Before he could run with the thought, he felt Sarah's pinky wrap around his. He turned and noticed her looking at him mischievously. He knew what she was thinking of. All thoughts about Fulcrum disappeared from his mind. He grinned back.
They continued the grinning as Casey stored the classified videoconference equipment with his back to them.
"God, please don't tell me you've defiled the couch here," Casey remarked.
Chuck instantly backed away from Sarah, who didn't move or stop smiling.
"If you're going back to Chuck's place, make sure you bring the white noise bug scrambler. I don't want to hear anything that would make me commit suicide."
Before Chuck could answer, Sarah produced the USB sized sonic scrambler and held it up. She continued grinning at Chuck, who now got an idea of what Sarah intended for later. In the four weeks that their relationship had become real, he had rounded first and second bases. Chuck thought that he was going to slide into third, but maybe he was being waved home.
"OkCasey,IthinkI'llridehomewithSarahseeyoutomorrowSarahlet'sgo." Chuck made a beeline for the theater room door.
As Chuck threw the door open, Casey looked disgustedly at Sarah. "Don't short circuit the Intersect. I don't think he's gone mountain climbing in years."
Sarah winked back. "Don't worry. I'm an excellent sherpa." She followed Chuck out.
Casey's face screwed into a grimace as he visualized some unwelcome images of his teammates. He felt the need to go home and take a hot shower.
Buy More, Buy More Plaza, Los Angeles, 9:55pm on a weekday
Sarah caught up to Chuck and they began walking out of the store hand-in-hand. They passed Morgan, Jeff, and Lester at the Nerd Herd desk. The three were having an animated discussion.
"Morgan, you're going to lock up the store, right?" Chuck asked.
"Yes I will, tall buddy of mine. You two lovebirds go do your thing."
"Thanks buddy. Later guys."
Lester and Jeff began elbowing each other and talking in whispered tones. Morgan narrowed his eyes and shook his head trying to shut them up. Lester finally spoke.
"Chuck, we were discussing you and your relationship with Sarah. We have a question for you." Morgan punched Lester in the arm. "Hey, you were curious too!"
Chuck looked at Sarah, who rolled her eyes, smiled, and shrugged her shoulders. Chuck shrugged back, and replied. "What's your question?"
Lester walked around to the front of the desk. "We understand that you and Sarah go into the theater room and close the curtains. We understand why. Everyone has fond memories of the couch in there…"
"You don't!" Jeff interrupted.
"Neither do you! As I was saying, I, we know that you two go into there for some bom chicka wah wah. If Sarah was my girlfriend, I would too, five times a day."
Jeff, Morgan, and Chuck all looked at Lester. Sarah gave him an especially dangerous look that made him scamper back around the desk.
"Anyways, we understand you two going in there so much. But why is Casey always in there with you too?"
Chuck and Sarah looked at each other with frightened looks. For a long while, they had no response.
Chuck finally responded. "Why don't you ask Casey?"
"Ask Casey what?" Casey finished stowing the communications gear and had silently approached Lester from the rear.
"Bye guys!" Sarah cheerfully said as she and Chuck turned and left.
"Ask Casey what?" Casey repeated with more menace.
Ellie Bartowski's apartment in Echo Park, Los Angeles, 10:34pm on a weekday
Chuck and Sarah were greeted by Ellie as they walked into the apartment. She was putting away plates and utensils in the kitchen.
"Hi guys. How's it going?"
"It's going well Ellie," Sarah replied. "How's the wedding planning going? Is Devon around?"
"Devon's got overnight call tonight. We're on schedule with the wedding plans. If you don't mind, can I get your help picking out invitations and programs? I want another woman's opinion. Guys just don't notice the details on these things."
Chuck hurriedly answered, "You're right sis, guys don't notice those things. Sarah will be happy to help you pick out the thingamajigs, this weekend or something. Right now," Chuck feigned a yawn. "We're really tired and want to get some rest. Oh, and Sarah will be sleeping over here tonight. Good night!" He grabbed Sarah's hand and pulled her down the hallway.
"Chuck!"
He stopped, turned, and walked back to his sister. "Yes?" he said patiently.
"Can you take the garbage out before turning in? Your old sizzling shrimp was in the fridge and had to go. It lost its sizzle days ago."
"I can take it out first thing in the morning."
"It's going to stink up the whole apartment if you don't take it out now. Please? It is your shrimp after all."
He hung his head. "Ok."
"Thanks Chuck! You guys have a good night. I'll let you know when we can look at the samples, Sarah."
As Ellie walked to her room, Sarah called out. "Good night, Ellie."
She walked behind Chuck and wrapped her arms around him. She rose to her toes and whispered into his ear. "If you're a good brother and take out the trash, I'll have a special reward for you when you get back." He slouched down to her height to give her better access to his ear. She abused her access by running her tongue around the outside of his ear before lightly nibbling his earlobe.
His ear beginning to catch fire, he decided to act. He grabbed the already smelly garbage bag and headed for the door. "I'll be back in a minute."
Sarah backed down the hallway while slowly unbuttoning her blouse. "Don't make me wait." She gave him her best seductive look.
Chuck glanced at her for an instant before rushing out the door. Sarah figured he'd return in far less than a minute. She smiled to herself as she went to his bedroom.
Garbage area outside Ellie Bartowski's apartment in Echo Park, Los Angeles, 10:36pm on a weekday
Stupid sizzling shrimp.
As Chuck practically ran to the garbage can, he remembered buying two orders of sizzling shrimp. One was for him, and one was for Morgan. Morgan never came by the apartment to pick up his portion. Things between him and Anna were going so well that he rushed straight to her apartment after work every day. Sizzling shrimp smelled wonderful when fresh, but putrid after several days in the fridge.
This was the night. This was the night that Sarah and he would finally consummate their relationship. It wasn't something they planned for, but something that happened organically as their relationship grew. Sarah had lowered her emotional barriers in the past month and he really got to know her. The real, fundamental Sarah, lying underneath all the cover personalities.
He learned that she was a bit of a geek herself, able to make corny, self-deprecating jokes. He loved how she saw the world when not wearing her spy hat. With Chuck, for the first time since joining the CIA, she was able to not wear her spy hat all the time. The times when they were alone in his room, or in her hotel room, when there was minimal danger were when her personality shined through most. To her credit, she was still all business when on a mission. Her relationship with Chuck actually seemed to bolster her resolve to make sure nothing ill happened to him.
Chuck smiled as he lifted the garbage can lid. He couldn't believe that things were going so well in both his spy life and his personal life. He felt more alive than he ever had. The only thing in his life that compared was his first day at Stanford. That day, his whole life waited ahead of him, and the options were all open.
As he dropped the lid, an image of what Sarah was, or was not wearing at the moment consumed his mind and he turned to run back to the apartment. That's when he felt a small prick on the back of his leg and the world went dark.
Unknown room, Unknown building, Unknown city, Unknown time
Consciousness returned slowly to Chuck. His body felt heavy, and when he tried to move, he couldn't. His mouth was dry and his saliva had a metallic taste. The only smell he could detect had a faintly chemical character. He heard two men and a woman talking. At first, he thought they were speaking Russian, then Mandarin, then English. The woman's voice triggered a memory in his mind. Still groggy, he couldn't concentrate and let the familiarity of the woman's voice go. He finally opened his eyes and saw bright, blurry light. It instantly magnified the headache he had and made him nauseous. He screwed his eyelids shut. Someone approached and put a straw in his mouth. He tried to fight back, but discovered his hands and feet were bound to a hard chair.
"Water. Drink," commanded the gruff voice in American English.
Not seeing many options at the moment, he took a long swig of warm water. It soothed his throat and eliminated some of the metallic taste in his mouth. He opened his eyes again.
He was better able to focus this time. After a minute or two, he took stock of his situation. No apparent injuries. Tied to a metal chair in a room of unknown size and location. He didn't know what time it was. There was a single bright light directed at his face. He could hear other people in the room but couldn't see them.
"I see you're finally awake"
The female voice again triggered a memory that he couldn't quite follow. He wondered if he was trying to flash and unable to because of some drugs.
Not quite trusting his mouth to speak clearly, he tried anyways. "Wherrrr ammmm I?"
"You are in a dark room in an unknown location."
The voice again clicked in his mind. He was closer this time but still not able to find the memory.
"Charles Irving Bartowski. How have you been, lover?"
The voice finally triggered the memory.
"Jill!?"