Spies make for bad liars
Sometimes, Sarah hates Chuck. Well, not Chuck himself – she could never hate him – but some aspects of his personality. Aspects she usually loves can suddenly become very much annoying. One aspect in particular: Chuck's honesty.
It sounds ridiculous to her, at first, when she allows this thought in her head. After all, Chuck has become surprisingly good at lying when it comes to him being a spy, or when he's on a mission. Charles Carmichael steps up, Chuck Bartowski lays low. But when it comes to his everyday life… Chuck is like an open-book. And not only to her; to everybody around him.
When she had first met him, she had been actually surprised by how nice and honest Chuck was with people. Being a spy for so long had destroyed her capacity for laid-back, normal interactions. She had explained that to herself with the following argument: her everyday life was nothing like Chuck's. She couldn't go around and act all natural in the outside world, or she would be as good as dead in no time.
But time had passed, and Chuck had become more and more involved in the whole spy thing, and yet, he had still retained that quality. He was more self-assured, and he had more self-control, yes, but he still had that sweetness and honesty to him. And that was how he had won her over. He had given her some sense of normalcy back, something she hadn't experienced in a very, very long time.
Unfortunately for her nerves, Chuck had also made her rediscover another long forgotten feeling: jealousy. She had never considered herself the jealous type before. Her last serious relationship had been with Bryce, and she had never felt this ugly and burning twitch with him; they were both adult, professional spies, and she knew she could trust him completely, both with her heart and her life.
But then again, she knew she could trust Chuck just as much, and even more. And even though she had been in love with Bryce, it didn't compare to what she had with Chuck.
So why does she want to punch him in the face for smiling so blissfully at the new girl who has just moved into the building? Worse, why does she feel compelled to go and scratch out the eyes of that girl for being so friendly with her boyfriend?
She knows better than that. She knows better than feeling threatened by a red-haired 'pixie girl'.
Still, she can't help looking daggers at her and Chuck, sitting on the stairs leading to the first floor (and to the apartment of the new girl), from the edge of the fountain where she's taken up residence for the past hour or so.
"Enjoying your evening, Walker?"
Sarah starts slightly and turns to Casey, who's magically sitting to her left.
"Casey! I didn't see you there. I'm sorry, what did you say?"
Her question is met by a mocking grunt.
"Nothing important. Just go back to mentally murdering Chuck and his new friend."
"What? What are you talking about?"
"Don't play this game with me, Walker. You've spent the last hour brooding in your corner and staring at your boyfriend and Claire."
"Who's Claire?" Then, remembering it's the girl for whom this little welcome party has been organised: "Oh, Claire."
"Yes. Oh, Claire," Casey repeats, amused. He seems to enjoy this situation a little too much for Sarah's taste; they haven't been on a real mission for too long, and now he is finding new ways to keep himself entertained.
"I don't know what you mean by that, Casey. I'm having a lovely time," she says while keeping a watchful eye on Chuck.
"For a spy, you're being a bad liar."
"I'm not lying. Look, I'm enjoying some of Ellie's fruit punch, and I just ate a delicious piece of cherry pie. See? Yummy."
"A really bad liar."
"Urgh, fine! I'm not having a good time, happy? Now leave me alone and go tease somebody else."
Another mocking grunt, but softer this time.
"Frankly, I don't get you. Why would you be jealous of this… geek girl?"
"Maybe because she is a geek!" she lets out before realizing what she is saying.
She pauses and briefly closes her eyes. There. She said it. When she opens them again, she meets Casey's puzzled gaze.
"She is a lively, attractive geek, who's sharing a lot of Chuck's interests and with whom he's spent the entire evening talking and smiling and laughing," she sighs.
"So what?"
"Well, she… He… They… I knew you wouldn't understand anyway. It's not like you're the most sympathetic guy in the world. I should've kept my mouth shut, or talk about this with someone else."
"Like Morgan, or Ellie? Please. You'd never hear the end of it. And Chuck would never hear the end of it as well," Casey snorts.
"… Point taken."
"And I mean that: so what?"
Sarah hesitates; Casey usually prefers to stay out of her relationship with Chuck and finds the subject more annoying than anything else. He must be really bored… Still, he is the one who has shown interest in the first place, and she's always liked his brutal honesty. Well, maybe not always, but in this case in particular, it's kind of nice. Even… weirdly comforting.
"It's just that, sometimes, I'm afraid I'm not… enough," she confesses.
"Enough of a nerd?"
"Maybe, yes… Yes. I'm afraid Chuck will end up realizing we don't have that much in common, and he'll start seeing that I'm not the right woman for him. I'm simply not."
Casey's only reply is a thoughtful grunt.
"I don't know anything about Star Trek, Star Wars, or Star Whatever. Why do all these movies have the word "star" in it anyway? It makes it even harder to differentiate them. Chuck also had to show me Tron because I kept wondering what that poster in his bedroom was. I'm not that much of a music buff either…"
"Okay, I get it, you're not the Queen of the Geeks," Casey cuts her off. "So what?"
"Stop repeating that, it's not helping!"
"Then stop making no sense."
This time, Casey is the one that Sarah wants to murder with one look.
"Chuck doesn't need a Morgan Grimes with boobs in his life," Casey says.
They both cringe at that unfortunate metaphor, but Sarah realizes Casey actually has a point there.
"Chuck has Morgan to satisfy his nerd needs, he doesn't want that from you."
"Urgh… Please, Casey, could you not use 'satisfy Chuck's needs' and 'Morgan' in the same sentence? That's another mental picture I can't unsee."
"Sorry."
Silence ensues, and Sarah mulls over Casey's words.
"… Maybe you're right," she concedes after a few minutes.
"Of course I'm right. I'm always right."
"But then… what does he want from me?"
"How the hell should I know? I'm not in his head, thank God."
Brutal honesty. There she had it. Not always the most comforting thing after all.
"That's very helpful and considerate of you, thanks…" she scoffs.
Casey rolls his eyes and drains his drink before saying:
"All I know is that to him, you're the only woman that matters."
"Really?"
"Come on, Walker! You're the only one who can put that stupid goofy smile on his face. You've always been the only one. So stop whining for no reason."
Sarah stares at Casey, dumbfounded, and she suddenly feels really silly. He's right. Casey is right. She has no reason to be jealous.
"Now that we've established that you shouldn't worry about Chuck, I think you should focus on the geek girl," Casey continues.
"What? Why?"
"She's getting a bit too friendly with Chuck, that's all."
Sarah immediately turns her attention to Claire, who has indeed gotten too close to Chuck to Sarah's taste. Chuck, in all his glorious honesty, is looking very uncomfortable but is still too polite to tell the girl off.
"What the… That's it, I'm going in!" Sarah exclaims, putting down her glass and standing up.
"Go get her, Walker."
She pauses and takes the time to give Casey a small, sincere smile.
"Thank you, Casey."
"For what?"
"For being brutally honest with me."
"I'll always got your back, partner," he simply replies, laughing a little as he watches her approach her newest target with the confidence she lacked just a few seconds ago.
And sure enough, when she shows up next to Chuck, the way his face lights up tells her she has no reason to be afraid of loosing him.
Claire, however, has every reason to be afraid of loosing a few teeth if she doesn't take her hand off Chuck's arm. Which she does in a heartbeat as soon as Sarah smiles a cold, threatening smile at her.
"Oh hey, darling! I, errr, I don't think you've met Claire, have you? I thought you had, but Morgan has invited so many people, it's kinda, wow, a bit crowded in there, so it's hard to know who met who, you know what I mean! Haha, hum, so anyway, Sarah, this is Claire, our new neighbour," Chuck babbles nervously, getting away from the red-haired girl and wrapping an arm around Sarah's waist.
"Oh, it's, hum, nice to meet you," Claire replies, looking suddenly as uncomfortable as Chuck.
Sarah doesn't say a word, but her eyes don't lie: Chuck is her nerd, so you'd better back off.