A/N – Welcome along for the ride. I was planning on this being two or three chapters long but I'm beginning to realize I do like serialized stories so I guess this is going to be slightly longer than that. Thanks to DLK for beta'ing and giving really great feedback too . Hope you like chapter 2
Chuck vs The Cardinal Rule
Is she worth dying for?
Roan Montgomery
The drive home is relatively quiet and he's glad that he can use driving as an excuse for not really discussing his failure tonight. He glances over at her and can tell from her posture that she's holding something in. She's checking the chamber of her gun but her mind is a million miles away and it's not difficult to guess that she's most probably thinking about his failure tonight and how he's just not a spy. He sees her put the gun back in the glove compartment, her hands finally clenched in her lap.
He pushes those thoughts away as he shifts up a gear, thinking about how much Sarah likes to drive fast and how he had been surprised when she had tossed him the keys to the Mustang, his first week into training.
"You want me to wash it?" It's the only thing he can think of as to why she had given him the keys. Sarah had laughed out loud and he had reveled in the sound, wishing she did it more often. The car is a beauty, not too sleek but so very powerful and so like her to choose it.
"It's yours." All he could do was stare as she shrugged her shoulders and climbed in on the passenger side, giving him a wink and that special smile as she disappeared into the car.
"Chuck?" It's the cadence of her voice that gives her away nowadays. He can tell when she's angry or sad or feeling romantic and right now, he hates it because he can tell that she's feeling guilty, although for the life of him, he cannot understand why; he was the one that screwed up.
"I don't want to talk about it." He knows it's quite an about turn for him as he's usually the one to initiate conversations between them but right now, all he wants to do is wallow. Well, that and to really think about how he needs to step up and protect her or at the very least ensure that it's his life on the line and not hers. They were equals now and he knows he needs to step up although the test tonight did show that he was a long way from being a spy.
"Well I do." Sarah had not wanted to force the issue but she needs him to snap out of whatever he's feeling and it's the only thing that has at least made him look at her instead of at the road. "It's a common response… freezing up I mean. I…" She's never lied to him to make a point or to get him to do anything that he didn't want to do and it's difficult to start now. She can relate though, considering she couldn't take the shot eighteen months ago. She knows she did not freeze but made a choice not to put his life in further danger.
"Don't. Please." He pulls into the carpark of the hotel but does not exit the car. "It's not a common response and definitely not something a spy should experience."
"I had a different childhood but it still did not prepare me for any of this." Sarah turns to face him as she places her hand atop his. "You just need to give it some more time. The Intersect."
He cuts her off because he needs her to understand that she cannot depend on the Intersect or, more accurately, she cannot depend on him. "I flashed. The problem was that the information was useless and I'm useless." He can still vividly see all the ways in which she had been hurt and can't help his involuntary shudder.
"I'm right here and we'll get through this." She knows it's the right thing to say when she sees his small smile as he looks up at her, his brown eyes finally coming to life.
He can recall the two times he's ever initiated a kiss, starting from the cheap motel room and ending with him pulling her into a kiss when Beckman finally agreed to his appointment into the CIA. He's never done it on any other occasion because he's still unsure why she's actually with him and does not want to drive her away with his need.
However he really needs the physical certainty that she is really there as he closes the gap between them. She does not blink as she holds his gaze and only closes her eyes as their lips touch. Her fingers though are already undoing his buttons and he has to play catch up when she pushes his shirt back. He's still surprised that he's able to think clearly at this point in time, knowing that Sarah is there with him, wanting him, that it's her hands roaming across his abdomen and her nimble fingers undoing his fly. He does not care that she probably knows that he's feeling inadequate and needs this validation. It's the only thing that is making him forget his failure as he finally loses himself in her.
"Better?" Even though his eyes are closed, Chuck can tell Sarah is smiling as she asks the question. She's cradled in his lap, her head resting under his chin, his hands held securely around her. It's not the most comfortable position for him but he really does not feel like moving.
Chuck does not want what they have to be a cliché and knows that doing it in a Mustang definitely qualifies. However, he's also cognizant that she's always been different and despite her wealth of knowledge of all things espionage related, she's as much of a novice as he is in the real relationship department. He hopes she knows how special she makes him feel. "I should be asking you if it was any good."
It's good to hear her laugh as she turns around to face him and he does his eyebrow waggle to great effect. "I love you." She's never said the words before and it nearly stops his heart. It takes him a good five seconds to remember how to breathe before he answers her.
"I love you too." His voice is soft but the words still reverberate in the enclosed car as if cocooning them with their spoken connection.
Chuck sees her mouth open to respond only to be distracted by the breaking glass from the windshield. He feels the slivers of glass rain down around them only to suddenly fall backwards as the car door is yanked open.
Her reaction is almost instantaneous the second she registered the sound of a force hitting and splintering the car windshield. She sees Chuck fall backwards as the door swings open, one hand reaches for her gun that is not there, even as her other hand reaches out to grab at Chuck, ducking behind the dashboard when she hears another shot.
It's the sound of the shot that triggers his flash. But like before, the flash again provides him access to Sarah's past files, this time case histories and pictures of her in the line of fire, times where she had to put her life on the line to protect someone else. A slew of information, photos and case files highlighting all the different ways she had place someone else's life above her own. Reports of strangers she had protected interspersed with cases they had been on together where she had agreed in writing to place his life above her own, every single time.
His head hits the pavement with a dull thud although he does not register the pain. It's only when he's yanked up and he hears her voice call out to him that he reacts. Not with a new skill from the Intersect but with an impetus to stop her from putting her life on the line for him. He twists his body and tumbles out of the car, all hands and feet. He notes the masked gunman but his focus is on the gun, aimed at Sarah as she scrambles to yank open the glove compartment.
Sarah barely catches the edge of his jacket as his body weight pulls her forward and she hears his head hit the pavement, his eyes fluttering about, indicating a flash. She curses when she realizes her gun is not on her person and in the split second chooses to pull Chuck upwards instead of reaching for the glove compartment. It only takes another few seconds to realize it's the wrong choice when she sees the man holding the gun aimed at them. She calls out to Chuck, her voice tinged with fear for him only to have it heightened further when he pulls away, tumbling out of her grip and making himself a target. She does not look at the gun instead focusing on getting her own weapon.
It's an easy choice for Chuck as he quickly scrambles upwards, positioning his body between the gun and Sarah, ensuring that the trajectory of the bullets would have no chance of hitting her. He hears the shots and the sound startles him more than the impact as he is propelled forward by the force. Surprisingly, he does not feel any pain although he knows his consciousness is slipping away as he falls bonelessly to the ground.
Sarah freezes for the first time in her career when she hears the report from the gun. Her hand hovers above her own weapon as her head whips up to see Chuck's body blocking her view of the outside. Her mind only registering what he had done when she sees him slide down to the floor, his brown eyes closed. She feels a multitude of emotions all fighting within her and cannot differentiate between pain and crushing sadness any longer. Her hand finally closing around her gun.
"Agent Walker. Mission code is Firestarter." The man knows her name and the code and it finally registers that Beckman would never just do anything one off. Beckman's plans would always be more elaborate and intricate and more punishing for Chuck. Her heart is still racing though as she places her palm over it, hoping to catch her breath as she acknowledges that Chuck's not shot. "Tell me they were twilight darts." Her voice surprisingly calm although she knows she is hanging on by a thread. She stares at the agent, his mask in his hand as he puts his gun back in his holster.
"Yeah, we rigged the sound of real bullets as well as targeted propulsion to add to the realism of the test." His expression turns into slight disgust as he looks down at Chuck's inert form. "What a pussy."
Sarah does not regret her next move as she fires her own gun, the bullet just barely nicking the agent's ear. She turns to hide her smile when she hears the string of expletives coming out of his mouth.
"Sorry," her voice not even carrying any hint of contrition. "I must have slipped." She climbs out of the car and checks Chuck's pulse. She positions herself to ensure that she'll be the first thing he sees when he wakes up.
She knows that he had flashed but instead of martial arts, he had just used his body as a shield to protect her. Sarah does not want him to regret their relationship but right now, she is regretting her decision to stay. The fear and hopelessness she had felt when she thought he had been shot was beyond all measure and she truly wonders if she's brave enough to face the prospect of that actually happening.
The End
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