Chuck versus the Dreaded Conversation
A/N: Okay people, here's my second story. Its going to be four chapters long with the second and third chapters not being as long as the others. This is my first attempt at really using speech in the story so I'd appreciate some feedback with how it worked out. I'd also like whether you guys thought I dragged this chapter out a bit too long and it got a bit boring.
Thanks, Nick
Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck, although it'd be awesome if I did.
Chapter 1 - The Mission
Chuck's lunch break had just begun and he was was walking through the car park on his way to the Weinerlicious. It had been a long morning, filled with complaining customers and the always troublesome combination of Jeff and Lester. So today, it felt particularly good knowing he would soon be seeing his Super Secret Agent fake girlfriend whom he had not so secret feelings for. As Chuck walked through the familiar door, the smell of hotdogs and nacho cheese immediately overwhelmed him. However he was brought back to reality by one of the most breaktaking sights on Earth. Great Wall of China, Great Barrier Reef, Egyptian Pyramids, none compared to the beauty of Sarah Walker. He was brought out of his momentary out of body experience when he realised she had noticed his standing there and flashed him her amazing smile. Chuck felt an ear to ear grin come upon his own face in response.
"Hey Chuck"
"Hey Sarah, you ready for lunch?"
"Absolutely, lets eat outside" Sarah replied.
Sarah called out to her uptight, ass of a boss Scooter, informing him she was taking hert lunch break. They both then proceeded to exit the shop and found a nice table outside to sit down at.
"So how has your day been?" Chuck sincerly questioned.
"Boring" was all Sarah managed in reply.
"It might not exactly be the excitement you're looking for, but how about a cover date tonight, dinner with Awesome, Ellie and I?" asked chuck.
"That's sounds amazing, but unfortunately I just got a call from Director Graham, we now have a mission tonight, sorry" said Sarah, with a genuine tone of disappointment in her voice.
"No that's okay, at least we'll get to spend the evening together" offered Chuck with a hint of a smile.
Sarah felt a hint of a blush creeping up her neck and she found herself with a mischevious grin on her face, "Well we had better get back to work, as demeaning and incredibly boring as it is"
"Ah yes, work, my pride and joy" Chuck sarcastically stated.
Sarah let out a small chuckle before replying, "Alright Chuck, I'll see you tonight, be ready at 7 sharp, enjoy the rest of the day"
"Bye Sarah" Said Chuck accompanied by his typical smile which had the ability to make Sarah's heart flutter just a little.
As Chuck walked away, Sarah slumped against the front window of the Weinerlicious, desperately hoping that things could be different with her and Chuck, that they could openly share their feelings with each other without fear of reprimand or reasssignment. Little did Sarah know that at that very moment the same feelings were going through Chuck's head...
The rest of the day passed rather uneventfully by the buymore standard, that is if you don't consider Lester and Morgan offering Jeff a six pack of beer if he shoved a screw driver in a powerpoint, only to be stopped in the knick of time by an outraged Big Mike.
As Chuck drove home, he experienced mixed feelings; sadness, in that he and Sarah had missed an opportunity to be themselves and for Sarah to let her emotional walls down in a comfortable environment, but at the same time a bit of happiness at the consolation that he and Sarah would at least be spending the majority of the night together.
Chuck arrived home, quickly realising that only Ellie was home as Devon was on shift at the hospital till midnight.
His sister warmly greeted him before asking him whether he and Sarah wanted to join her for dinner considering she was home by herself.
In respons, Chuck said, "Sorry sis, would love to join ya, but Sarah and I have already got plans tonight. As a comprimise, how about Sarah and I take you and Devon out for a movie and dinner on Saturday?"
"Sounds great" Ellie sincerly replied, before continuing "So, things seem to be going really good between you and Sarah ay?"
Ellie's comment halted Chuck's progress towards his room and led him to turn around and face his sister, "I don't know sis, I'm not sure it's going anywhere"
Ellie immediately replied, "Are you kidding? You two are about as in love as any two people I know, the way you look at each other, how right it feels when you're together, we all just know it in hearts, you guys are meant to be together"
Chuck's eyes suddenly stung a bit as he held back the sudden urge to break down and admit to his sister that he loved Sarah more than he ever thought he could love a person, and that if it wasn't for the job, they might stand a chance at being a couple, and truly being happy. Instead, all Chuck could manage was, "Thanks sis, love ya" and a typical Chuck smile.
Chuck was sitting at his desk looking at pictures on his phone of photos other people had taken of Chuck and Sarah on their cover dates. Even though Chuck knew it was fake, the pictures just seemed right, Chuck and Sarah looked like a real couple, meant to be together. His train of thought was disrupted by a knock at the front door.
Chuck quickly exited his room, said goodbye to Ellie, before meeting up with Casey and Sarah who were geared up and ready for the mission.
The car ride was fairly relaxed. Casey had explained that tonights mission involved running some surveillance on a suspected arms smuggler who was meant to be meeting with a potential client. There orders were to first confirm both parties involvement in the illicit activity and if need be arrest them and bring 'em in. After Casey explained the contingency plan in the case that shit hit the fan and informed Chuck that under no cirumstances should he leave the car (as always!) their surveillance operation began once they had reached the destination.
Chuck was quickly aware that the van was quite small and the three of them were sitting in extremely close quarters, which meant he and Sarah were close to the point of nearly rubbing shoulders. Even though Chuck had been required to make physical contact with Sarah many times for the cover over the past year, he still felt an electricity flow through his body whenever he and Sarah brushed up against each other.
Sarah was also aware of her close proximity to Chuck and felt her heart flutter whenever her and Chuck's eyes would meet, even for just a moment.
After half an hour or so of listening to the smuggler and his potential client, the team had heard enough to close in on the targets and arrest them.
Casey and Sarah got their gear together and exited the car (not before firmly reminding Chuck that he was not to leave the car).
Chuck watched on on the monitors as Casey and Sarah surprised the perps holding them at gun point and enforcing the fact that if either of them cared to carry on living they should not move one bit.
Casey had arrested the first man and it seemed as though the situation was well under control, the second man, seeing that the agents attention was on arresting the first man, sensed his opportunity and knocked the gun out of Sarah's hand and ran away as quickly as his legs would allow him.
Sarah, quickly recovered her gun, told Casey to handle the criminal still standing there, shocked at what had taken place, and ran after the man.
Chuck, seeing what had taken place, was overcome with worry for Sarah and made the snap (yet stupid) decision to leave the van and run after Sarah.
After searching for the escaped smuggler for a few minutes decided to stop, assess her options and decide on the best course of action. Her gun momentarily relaxed by her side as she assessed that there was no immediate danger to her, however this was all the invitation the assailant, who was hiding in the shadows needed. He quickly emerged from his place of hiding, surpising the CIA agent and quickly knocking the gun out of her hand and knocking her to the ground with a swift blow to the back of her head. The man quickly gathered up the agents gun and pointed it at Sarah.
"Get up! Now!"
Sarah slowly lifted herself off the ground, still a bit dazed by the blow to her head.
"What do you want?" asked Sarah cautiously
"Freedom" the criminal responded
He kept the gun aimed Sarah straight at Sarah's head, making sure he gave her no opportunity to gain the upper hand.
At that moment, Chuck had finally found Sarah after minutes of searching. Seeing the situation, before he could stop himself he heard himself shout at the top of his lungs,
"SARAH!"
Realising Chuck's presence the assailant quickly altered his aim to Chuck, trying to assess whether or not he was a risk.
Seeing that he was unarmed and at his mercy, the assailant made a snark remark in Chuck's direction,
"Coming unarmed into a gun fight, tsk tsk, not a smart decision you foolish man"
The assailant cocked the gun and prepared to shoot the man when we heard a scream come from the blond agent.
"NO PLEASE, NOT HIM! KILL ME INSTEAD"
Sensing a connection between the man and the blond agent, he decided it prudent to taunt them a little more,
"Oh no, agent, don't tell me you have real feelings for this man. Quite unprofessional, that is, tsk tsk" the man tauntingly remarked.
Feeling completely helpless, Sarah felt tears coming to her eyes. She looked into Chuck's eyes, furious that he had disobeyed orders, but at the same time devestated that she might never get to tell him how she felt about him. She tried to portray to him the extent of her feelings for him through a deep stare into his eyes.
The assailant, keen to get this over and done with aimed the gun at the man, ready to fire,
"Your boyfriend's dead baby, and there's nothing you can do to save him"
Sensing, it was over, Sarah allowed her tears and emotions to overcome her.
A deafening gunshot sounded.
Sarah slumped, to the ground, not caring that she was about to die. The love of her life had just been killed before her eyes.
She was now crying violently, hating herself for never telling Chuck how she felt about him.
"I love you Chuck" she repeated inaudibly
Then she heard an all too familiar voice from afar.
"Gosh Walker, you're a mess"
Looking up at her partner, the realisation of what had actually taken place hit her.
The assailant who had threatened her with a gun just a minute ago was on the floor dead, and Chuck stood there, still shocked at what had taken place. The relief of Chuck being alive momentarily overwhelmed Sarah, but was quickly replaced by the need to maintain professionalism in front of her partner. She found her hard, agent exterior returning and turned to face Chuck.
"WHY DIDN'T YOU STAY IN THE CAR CHUCK? You could've been killed!" Sarah yelled at him.
"Sar-" Was all Chuck could manage in response
"When you're given an order Chuck, you listen, no matter what. The intersect's life is much more important than mine.
Sensing that her verbal barrage had had its desired effect, Sarah turned back to Casey,
"Let's go," She said impatiently
Not wanting to further piss Sarah off, Casey followed Sarah's lead, noticing that the NSA cleaners had already arrived.
The car ride home was tense to say the least. The tension in the air couldn't be cut with a knife.
Mixed emotions flowed through Sarah's mind. In one sense she was extremely relieved that Chuck was still alive, yet in another, she was frustrated at herself for letting her emotions take over. She was determined to keep Chuck at a distance and maintain her composure.
As the van pulled up in front of Sarah's hotel, she got out of the car. But before closing the door, she turned to face Chuck,
"Bye Chuck" she said, sounding composed and professional.
"My house tomorrow night at 7. We need to talk about what happened tonight, because it sure as hell can't happen again."
Chuck simply nodded in response as Sarah walked away from the van towards the hotel.
As the van pulled away from the side of the road, a taunting chuckle came from Casey.
"Oh you're in shit now Bartowski"
Chuck audibly sighed and put his head in his hands. Tomorrow night would be a conversation he was NOT looking forward.
Thanks for reading, hope to have the next chapter out within a few days. I'd really appreciate if people took the time to read and review.