Hi all! Latest installment of the Postcard series, here!

And unlike my last section, this one if Charah-fortified.

Thanks everybody for reading and reviewing. I do love reading those reviews, so please keep 'em coming!

Thanks to my wife and Anon for editing. My wife wanted me to have Chuck and Sarah go out on a date. I can't say no to her, can I?

Oh, and special shout-out to Poa who would like me to try to cut down on my one or two sentence paragraphs. It may not be immediately apparent, but I'm trying. I'm trying!

________________________________________________________________________

Sarah Walker, having closed the cover office, shortly arrived downstairs to catch the tail-end of the argument.

"-Don't see why I can't just use the tranq gun."

"Bad guys wake up from tranq guns. Then they shoot the good guys with real guns."

Sarah stopped on the stairs, half-considering a silent retreat. She had known this discussion would happen sooner or later, but she had hoped it would be later than just one week after they had gotten back from D.C. She didn't relish Casey pitting her against Chuck, as she knew he would, though she also knew he would be right to do so. Well, she was just going to have to suck it up. She had promised herself that the new relationship wouldn't make her act differently in her duties. She stepped into the room, where both men looked at her.

Chuck had opened his mouth to speak, but Casey beat him to it, "Walker, tell your boyfriend about the facts of life, wouldja? This is becoming a broken record with him."

Sarah frowned. She had wished that Casey wouldn't have been predictable.

"Chuck," Her eyes immediately apologized to him for what she was about to say, "Casey's right. I know it's against your nature, but it's not realistic to think you're going to be able to do this job without killing."

Chuck gave her his puppy-dog look, as if to say, "Don't you love me for my sweet innocence and regard for human life?" She had to shake her head for a second to remain steady. "I've done pretty good so far," he insisted. "Before the new Intersect, I was able to use my brains-"

Casey coughed out a laugh.

Chuck continued as though he hadn't been interrupted. "I used my brains to beat the bad guys. When I got the Intersect, I was able to knock 'em out with my kung fu skills. I've done pretty good without having to kill anybody. Well, there were those two with 'the Morgan', but those were accidents. And speaking of accidents, the only time I had a real gun, I shot a good guy in the leg! Let's be honest, here. Do you really want me to be packing heat?"

Casey mouthed the words, "Packing heat." Sarah forced herself not to smile. "Chuck, I think it is safe to say that neither of us wants you to have to carry a gun. It's just the reality of the new situation." She didn't feel comfortable about that. She truly didn't want Chuck to lose his innocence. However, Chuck had made a choice, and he needed to be ready to fully commit to that choice and all it entailed.

"I did really well with the tranq guns. I managed to knock Casey out-"

"It took three shots, Bartowski, THREE!" growled the Colonel.

"With three shots," appended Chuck. "Then, I successfully knocked out a whole mess of Fulcrum thugs at Roarke's with the tranqs, all at once!

"Yeah, and did you happen to notice that some of those thugs returned later to shoot up your sister's wedding?" replied Casey.

Chuck was silent at that one.

Sarah felt bad for him. "Chuck, you're not going to have to kill in every situation. Obviously, you've seen many cases where we were able to capture and take prisoners, but that isn't always an option. In many situations, we need them to go down and stay down. We can't just tie up everybody and hope that they're out of commission."

Chuck sadly said, "I'd like to find another way. Between us and the Intersect, we should find another way that doesn't require me to kill."

Casey stood up, and said in a peevish tone, "You sure seem OK when Walker or I kill somebody if it saves your life. We can get our hands dirty, but not you."

Sarah gave Casey a look which said, "Not helping," but the big man acted like he didn't see it. He turned around and walked to the door, muttering, "Don't forget the new mission briefing with Beckman tomorrow at 0900. Be on time." Then he was up the stairs and out the door.

Sarah turned back to Chuck who seemed thoroughly depressed. Knowing Chuck as she did, Sarah had no doubt that Casey's last barb had hit home. "Chuck, do you want to talk about it?"

He stood up and said without making eye contact, "Later, maybe. We got dinner reservations. I'm gonna shower."

________________________________________________________________________

They arrived at Il Ristorante Vita in Santa Monica shortly after 6 p.m. Chuck had requested that she wear the blue dress from Ellie's rehearsal dinner. He was wearing a cream linen suit that she was only now seeing, because he had bought it two days previously. She had to admit that he looked gorgeous in it, even wearing a black t-shirt and his standard sneakers, but between that and the obvious fanciness of the restaurant, she wondered what the occasion was.

Sarah took one look at the menu, and raised her eyes with concern toward Chuck. No entree was less than fifty dollars. "Uh, Chuck?"

He glanced at her briefly before asking the server for a wine list in addition to the menu.

Sarah realized that he was receiving consistent government pay now at a significant increase. Still, she hoped he knew what he was doing. She smiled a little when he struggled over reading the entree names on the menu, and made a joke about the sand dabs selection. She attempted to order the least expensive item, but he challenged her on it, and ordered filet mignon for her. She felt a tad indignant, but let it pass. After all, she loved a good filet mignon.

However, when Chuck decided to order a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon in excess of $200, Sarah couldn't keep silent anymore. "Hold it," she told the server. "I'd like to discuss the wine selection with my boyfriend."

Chuck frowned, and told the server, "Ah, no. I've been looking forward to this wine. Please bring it."

Sarah stared at Chuck. The server stared at Sarah. Chuck looked from Sarah to the server, and said, "Wine, please. Uh, go?"

Chuck looked back at Sarah, a determined expression on his face.

"What are you doing?" she asked, trying and failing to keep the anger out of her voice. She couldn't figure what this was all about, this behavior of his. It wasn't like him to be extravagant or to flaunt money. The only reason that she imagined that he might be doing this was…

Her eyes widened, her stomach dropping through the floor. "Empty your pockets!" It came out of her mouth before she realized what she was saying.

Chuck furrowed his brow, appearing perplexed. "Wh-what?"

"Just do it!" She was staring at his hands, in a panic.

Chuck pulled out his wallet and some lint, and then he looked back up at her. "It that it?" she asked in a strained voice.

"Uh, yeah, I'm not carrying any weapons, or anything."

"No jewelry? In boxes or otherwise?"

"Uh, no. Though if you'd like some jewelry, we can go to the mall after-"

"Chuck!" She said forcefully, hissing through clenched teeth. "Why did you bring me here? Do you have any plans to ask me something?"

Realization appeared to finally dawn on Chuck, and his face suddenly developed a flush. "Oh my- you thought that I- Well, no! I mean, not that I wouldn't like to at some point, but we just got together, and- Oh God, did I freak you out? I'm sorry."

Sarah took a moment to calm down.

The wine arrived. The server opened the bottle. Chuck gave the cork an extremely exaggerated sniff which resulted in a laugh from Sarah and an eye roll from the server. Chuck offered the cork to Sarah, and she gamely gave a less intense sniff. Then Chuck took a small sip, which he then let dribble out of his mouth and back into his glass and dabbed at his chin with a napkin. Both the server and Sarah grimaced in slight disgust. Chuck looked at them both, and said, "What? Isn't that how you're supposed to taste wine?" He smiled at the server. "Thank you, it is excellent."

The server gave Chuck one more disgusted glance and then left, muttering, "Yeah, whatever."

Chuck grinned at Sarah. She gave him a wry smile in return. "Are you having fun?" she asked.

"A little bit. Evening's getting a bit better."

"I know you've seen too many Bond movies to believe that was the acceptable way to taste wine."

He laughed, "Guilty. The expressions on your faces made it all worth it."

Sarah laughed for a moment herself. Then she remembered her concerns. "Chuck," she took his hand. "Why are we here? Why the extra expensive treatment?"

Chuck brought his gaze down to the table for awhile, before finally bringing it back to her. "I've always wanted to take you to a great place like this. Take you out for an evening that you deserve."

Sarah smiled, pleased, but shook her head. "You know that I don't care about this sort of thing."

Chuck said, "You're an international spy. I'm sure you've spent time at the most exotic locales and restaurants imaginable. You've eaten escargot, and other dishes I wouldn't even be able to pronounce, and you've drank wine a lot finer than this, I'm sure. Now, you're in Burbank with me. I just wanted to give you back some of that exotic existence that you're missing."

Sarah stared at him. "Yes, I've gone to a lot of those places you're talking about. I also sometimes went days without eating in the line of duty. I'd rather spend the rest of my life eating at places where the bill is less than $20 as long as you're there eating with me."

Chuck began to look down but she leaned over took his chin in her hand and pulled his gaze back to her. "Tell me what's wrong, Chuck."

"I'm blowing it, Sarah. I nearly drove you away when I took on the new Intersect. Then, the whole mess with the jealousy. I'm blowing it, and I'm going to lose you."

Sarah moved her hand from his chin, only to envelope his face with both her hands. "I'm not going anywhere, Chuck."

"What if I can't hack it, Sarah? The argument with Casey, this mission tomorrow; what if I can't make this work?"

"We will make this work. I believe in you, Chuck. We'll take it one mission at a time, but I believe in you."

At that moment, they heard someone clearing their throat. Both looked up to find the server standing next to the table, their dinner plates on his arm.

They pulled back to their own sides of the table while the plates were placed. Sarah smiled at Chuck. "So, are you only going to take me out to rich places, when you think I'm going to break off our relationship?" she asked, taking a sip of her wine. It was a good choice.

Chuck returned the smile and said, "Yeah, though I'll probably also do it when I eventually get around to asking you to marry me."

Sarah began to choke on her drink. Chuck quickly came around to her side and began to pat her back, muttering apologies all the while. After she was breathing again, they both dug into the meal. They both agreed that the food was excellent, though perhaps a good-humored server would have been preferable.

As they were nearing the end, Sarah said, "You know what I'd like? If you didn't already have any plans after this, I'd like us to do something that we haven't done before. Something that you'd like to share with me, but haven't yet.

Chuck looked at her thoughtfully and then gradually smiled.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

They were standing just inside the gateway of the gaudy park.

"Mini-golf? Really?" Sarah asked skeptically.

"Hey, you're the one who put me in charge."

Sarah nodded. "Yeah, I did." Her tone was resigned.

"Aw, c'mon, Sarah. I mean, this'll bring back memories from when you did mini-golf as a... kid." His voice trailed off as he saw her expression. "Aw, no," he said, horrified.

Sarah raised her chin and responded with partially mock pride, "I'll have you know that I did lots of fun stuff when I was a kid. Dad would treat me to ice cream whenever I helped him pull off a successful con." Ignoring Chuck's wince, she continued, "I went to the zoo, the circus, baseball games, the dog track. Just never mini-golf."

Chuck said, "Well, it is time to fill in this gap in your education, Ms. Walker!"

Sarah smiled. "Lead on, Sir."

While Chuck was renting the golf clubs, Sarah scoped out the premises. She watched the various patrons, some teenagers, kids with their parents. She looked at them, and as it so happened, they looked right back at her.

"Ahhhhhh, Chuck?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think maybe we should have changed into casual clothes before we came here?"

Chuck looked at himself in his suit. He then looked at her in the blue dress, lingering much longer.

"Nope. Besides, if we'd taken time to go home and change, we wouldn't have as much time for mini-golf!"

She smirked at him, but acquiesced. The attendant gave them the clubs and three multi-colored balls each (on Chuck's request). They walked to the first hole.

"So," Chuck began in a business-like tone, "just treat this like a regular golf game, with fewer line drives, and with more dragons and castles."

Sarah smiled, and said, "I've never played regular golf, either, Chuck."

He looked at her with disbelief. "Come on! What about all the international intrigue? Didn't you have to ever seduce a guy with your golfing skills?"

Sarah grinned, "Amazingly, what a lot of countries have in common culturally is, the men don't want to play golf with the women. Tragic, I know."

"Well, it's all in the control of the power of the stroke and the aim, and I know you've got control, power and aim, so you'll do fine. Come over here."

She walked over to him, taking a club from his hand. He tried to instruct her on posture and method. She didn't feel comfortable though. Throwing knives and shooting were still different then this. Seeming to realize her discomfort, Chuck said, "Here, let me help you." He stepped behind her and slightly leaned into her, placing his hands over hers on the club.

Sarah's eyebrows immediately rose, as did a wide smile shortly after that.

Hmmmmmmm…..

With his guidance, she was able to drive the ball down the "green" toward the first hole.

"There," Chuck said, satisfaction in his voice as he stepped away from her. "You did fine."

She had stifled her grin as soon as he faced her. Feigning a casual tone, Sarah asked, "Have you ever played mini-golf with other women?"

Chuck appeared to give it some thought. "Other than Ellie when we were kids? No. I've invited Ellie to go since then, but she was never interested. Of course, Awesome once asked her and she went immediately. Did they bring me? Of course not." He seemed put out by the memory.

Sarah considered him for a moment. Two years later, and he still surprised her. Surely he couldn't be that innocent?

When they arrived at the second hole, and Chuck handed her the golf club, motioning her to take her turn, Sarah realized that yes, in fact, he could be that innocent. Keeping a straight face, Sarah smacked the ball so it went off the course and into the realm of hole 15 nearby. Chuck apologized to the miffed players on hole 15, then gave Sarah a perplexed look.

She shrugged. "Not the same as throwing knives, I guess. Would you do the hand-over-hand thing like you did before, honey?"

He scratched his head, appearing suspicious, but he agreed. He still didn't seem to get it, though. Chuck's innocence was one of the things Sarah adored about him. For that reason, she considered that it might be best to leave his innocence intact.

Nah.

He figured it out on hole 5. Chuck had continued to be confused by her inability to play the game without his guidance. However, on hole 5, after glancing around to make sure they weren't being watched at the moment, Sarah made a sudden movement with her lower body while Chuck was behind her. His sharp intake of breath communicated that he finally got it.

On that particular shot, she achieved a hole-in-one. "Yay! I did it!" she exclaimed as she rushed over to grab the ball where it rested. Chuck stood absolutely still for awhile, before following.

On hole 6, he attempted a retreat. "Y'know, Sarah, I think you've got the gist of this. Why don't you give it another try by yourself again?"

She affected a pouty look. "Really, Chuck? I'm not so sure that's a good idea. You saw what happened before. I've got too much power and not enough aim. If I drive another ball off course, I could accidentally kill somebody."

Chuck glared at her. She gave him an innocent smile in return. He got behind her, but not before anxiously staring at the other park guests to make sure they weren't noticing.

By hole 9, Chuck was having some difficulty walking. He tried getting out of it, by claiming his legs were tired, and he needed to sit down on the bench.

She sweetly mouthed to him, "Get. Over. Here."

On hole 12, Sarah asked, while his hands were guiding hers, "Does mini-golf normally make you breathe hard?" Trying to control panting, Chuck replied, "Not as a rule, no." She was having difficulty breathing herself.

Chuck was sweating by hole 15.

On hole 17, Sarah whispered harshly, "Chuck? I don't think I'm going to make it to the end of the game."

"You sure about that?" Chuck responded in an extremely constricted voice. "Only two more holes to go."

"Well," she said, "I think if we finish the last two, we're going to need to make a little pit-stop in one of the public restrooms. Together."

Chuck moaned. "There are children in those restrooms!"

She said, "Yes, Chuck. Yes, there are."

Chuck said through gritted teeth, "I'd better take you home."

Sarah said, "Yes, you'd better take me home." She made one more move, scooting herself back into him, causing him to shudder. Looking over her shoulder at him, she added, "Then just take me."

With some difficulty on Chuck's part, they made their way to the exit. Pretty much everybody in the park watched them leave. The stone-faced cashier who received their clubs started to open his mouth, when Chuck said, "Don't worry. We're not coming back here again."

They managed to make it inside the car, where they stayed for awhile.

________________________________________________________________________

Here's an e-mailed conversation between Anon and myself that I wanted to share:

Anon: I am torn about Chuck's not knowing the wonderfully social applications of miniature golf. He's a nerd not a dork.

Me: Believe it or not, I myself, had been unaware of the social applications of mini-golf (and I'm 39), however, whether or not I, myself, am a dork is still up for discussion. My wife explained it to me.